KC Sim

Why should one not discuss Royal Brunei Airlines? Sure, it is not your flag carrier from a huge country with a huge home market which is also a popular tourist destination. Even as Royal Brunei probably never made much profit with whatever it had ... it did achieve one thing many airlines that are far bigger and better endowed failed to do : Offer G-R-E-A-T service. To prove a point, we should keep discussing about Royal Brunei ... I have flown on Royal Brunei when they were still operating B767-300ERs from Frankfurt to Bangkok (and the service was superb) and recently flew with them from KUL to BWN and back on their B787 and A320 ... the service was still exceptionally good. And BWN Airport is undergoing renovation that will further improve the travel experience. Indeed those who deem this airline unworthy of discussion or of his attention could elect not to open the thread. At no time should the vast majority accept being told that their opinions and interest in any airline is invalid. KC Sim

Now that explains the use of that morning blue on the economy class seats ... Not certain that I like these colours more than or as much as the ones being replaced. These are nice colours (for seat upholstery) but as uniforms, they seem very muted and will be even more so after a few washes. There isn't much difference between the morning sky blue and the mint green. But as with every new livery or uniform, one has to see it in person to make a final judgement ... and even then, some like it, some just don't. What perhaps will not change is the very good service on board Royal Brunei Airlines. RBA's crew members are extremely friendly. KC Sim

This is indeed a good move. For the first time in a long time, it appears to be a more coherent fleet re-equipment programme rather than a piece-meal one. I doubt Armedeo's acceptance of the A380 in 2016 is of any significance as the A380 appears to be much to much capacity for MAS to profitably operate year-round. It sure could fill the planes most of the time but the yield it gets now just do not support the acquisition of more A380s. Something matching the capacity and capability of the B777-300ER would be far more useful. Such a deliberation if it is completed by the first half of this year would make one hell of an order announcement at the Farnborough Air Show 2014. KC Sim

If Chef Wan finds it worthy of a critical appraisal after being served this sad-looking Nasi Lemak during a KUL-BKK flight, wait till he sees a pathetically sad anaemic looking Nasi Lemak near the end of a KUL-LHR flight. For several years, I have commented negatively about the Nasi Lemak after flying several times on the KUL-LHR sector and I am glad that finally this issue is being discussed publicly. Weirdly enough, its subsidiary - Firefly - appeared to have a far superior Nasi Lemak when I flew with it several times. And it is even worse reading about how much MAS is charged for that pathetic Nasi Lemak ... now it makes me wonder how much each pack of that great tasting roasted peanuts cost. KC Sim

Personally, I do not think that London will ever be a victim to network trimming ... it just is too important a route to be on the chopping block. I have travelled a few times on the KUL-LHR-KUL routes on board the B744s and A380s ... and the loads each time was pretty impressive. MAS still offers a far superior value proposition than many other carriers between Europe/London and Asia. KC Sim

Malaysia and Singapore could quite possibly look beyond whatever differences they have and create a single sky ... in the same way that New Zealand and Australia have tried before. Like J. Suri said, it is not unprecedented and could still be possible. However, before that happens, MAS need to do lots of house-cleaning ... and return to a somewhat healthier P&L balance sheet. It still baffles me that MAS has not seen the benefit of a B77W fleet and was last year talking about ordering more A380s!! To me, it should be looking at B77Ws, B777Xs and B787s or their A350 family members. And it also has to decide on a common branding for its main fleet which now consists of at least for variants in aircraft liveries, not including its subsidiaries Firefly and MASwings. If nothing else, MAS management would do well to look to its fellow oneworld member JAL for a lesson on how to restructure for profitability. JAL has done a great job and could easily write a new textbook on Restructuring 101. Perhaps MAS should engage JAL as consultant for this purpose ... and having done so, do as advised and not always worry about "face" and "prestige". I totally disagree with handing over domestic operations to AirAsia ... its domestic and regional feed is crucial to the success of its international operations. MAS just has got to learn to do the latter better. KC Sim

No confirmation of the Bayi Aerobatic team from the PLAAF (Bayi as in 八一）？ In any case, this team seems a certainty from certain well-placed sources. Yes, the Osprey should be quite a stunner. KC Sim

Happy to see that Mwing's anniversary celebrations could return to KUL again. I will mark the date on my calendar this year ... looking forward to it. But before that, I gather we will be seeing lots of you folks in Singapore for the airshow. KC Sim

SilkAir's first B737-8SA 9V-MGA will be handed over in Seattle on the afternoon of 3 February ... will by then be able to confirm how the 25th Anniversary markings are applied on the aircraft. Hopefully the location has wifi connection and I could upload some pictures of the aircraft's exterior and interior on FB ... KC Sim

Oh yes, I forgot it was extended to Mexico City too. But was the KUL-LAX route ever served daily with B744? KC

Those wishing to see the first B737-800 of SilkAir should note that it will only come to the Singapore Airshow on Friday. It should by then have special markings for the airline's 25th Anniversary. KC Sim

At its height, was this route served on a daily basis with B747-400? I remember the beautiful set of postage stamps marking the launch of this service ... and the beautiful special markings on the B747-400 with both the Malaysian and American flags. KC Sim

Here's another picture of 9M-MND being towed to the hangar after its delivery arrival on 23 November. It parked at gate C17 for a short period and was then towed to the hangar ... but re-appeared on the remote stand the next day. KC Sim

I remember there was a thread prior to this about the dismay some felt as MAS' five-star ranking was under threat ... Check out this report about the Advertising Standards Authority of Britain's doubt over Skytrax's integrity ... http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/singapore/story/skytraxs-traveller-reviews-questioned-20121109 Quote Citing an example, ASA said that while Skytrax claims to have more than five million trusted and verified traveller reviews on its website, it could not prove this to the authority. ASA said: "Because Skytrax did not have the ability to track a review back to its source after the first 24 hours, and therefore could not demonstrate the verification process to which any one particular review on the site had been subjected, we concluded that they did not hold sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims 'Checked and trusted airline review' and 'Real travellers with real opinions'." In its defence, Skytrax chairman Edward Plaisted said more than 1,400 airlines and airports are featured on the website and "not one of these companies has ever complained about user reviews being false, defamatory or unfair. Unquote KC Sim

Wow, THANKS for the quick response. With all the response, that leave only the fleet of AirAsia X to be filled ... how many A330-300 does it have now and how many are on order? Are all the A340-300s gone already (miss these)? I too wonder how Berjaya Air is classified but eventually decided it isn't an LCC because you can't just go to the website to book its flight which are anything but cheap (at least out of Singapore) ... and you don't get to purchase a meal onboard. There are just no meals available (again, at least this is the case on the Singapore-Redang Island flight I took). But funnily enough, it operated from Changi Airport's Budget Terminal until this was closed recently. KC Sim

As the number of LCCs based in Malaysia grows, I thought it might be helpful to have one discussion to deposit fleet status information here. Nailing down the fleet lists of each LCC becomes challenging as deliveries are coming in fast and furious, especially at AirAsia. As we have different members here linked to different LCCs, perhaps each could post the fleet status (including those already in fleet and those still on order) as of 1 November 2012 for the following carriers: - AirAsia - AirAsia X - Firefly - MASwings - Malindo Air (two B739ERs in March 2013 with two more each in April and May 2013) With the LCC scene looking so vibrant, I look forward to many great contributions here from Mwings members. Happy posting. KC Sim

Hahaha, very clever and mischievous of you Niam. Must an AOC be "renewed" at a specific interval ... in which case, someone probably is going to be rapped on the knuckles real hard. I had the impression that an AOC once issued is valid until such time the regulatory body finds something wrong and asks the airline to "show cause" why it should not be revoked. Hopefully someone could shed some light on this. If indeed the AirAsia AOC had lapsed ... and some time is needed for it to be renewed, does it mean the airline has to stop operating in the interim ... or is there provision for a temporary AOC to allow the airline to bridge this phase? KC Sim

Great to see a European carrier launching flights to KUL ... and the best part is, the timing of its arrival into KUL is good enough for photography! It also allows for ample transit time for passengers originating in Paris to connect onto KLM's flights to Jakarta. Any news about a Nepal carrier called BB Airways operating into KUL? Has anyone actually seen it or have more information about its operation into KUL? KC Sim

Indeed "Singa" and "pura" are both of Sanskrit origin. And they mean "lion" and "city" respectively. A lion sighting in Singapore is at best a factual abberation ... but then, in a legend, anything goes. If anything, Parameswara probably saw a tiger that was having a bad-hair day. KC Sim

I have just returned from a week in Bhutan and while a landing at Paro Airport sounds challenging, it is actually quite a pleasurable airport to land in ... or at least, that is what the amazing pilots at Drukair make it appears to be. During the early morning, airplanes tend to land on runway 33 ... the aircraft descend into a valley before making a gentle right turn ... seems pretty simple. For runway 15 landing, airplanes will be flown downwind over the airfield for visual ... followed by a right hand circuit and descent into the Paro Valley ... followed by a descending sharp turn to starboard over some ricefields ... and then a sharp - still descending - turn to port before lining up over the 2500m runway. From my observation, the Drukair pilots are extremely well trained and always have the planes nice and level and low over the piano keys! Like the Cathay Pacific pilots at Kai Tak, the Drukair pilots make landing at Paro International Airport look so effortless. Let me process some of the pictures from the landing on runway 15 to illustrate the final two turns the pilots make before landing on runway 15. I strongly recommend those keen on action photography to visit Bhutan for a dose of incredibly enjoyable aviation photography. Although the airline has only four planes, there are certainly enough movements from mid-morning to the late afternoon to leave you breathless and thoroughly satisfied. Photographing the ATR42 doing the same manoeuvres is quite exhilirating ... except that the ATR42 arrival I photographed did not overfly the airfield for visuals ... and I was caught by surprise when it quietly sneaked in from behind the mountains with hardly a sound. KC

Congratulations to Malaysia, for its success in bringing Air France to Kuala Lumpur. That is a very good airline to snag. AF's B777s have 10-abreast seating in economy class ... so I don't think this is any threat to MAS' A380 service to CDG. Wouldn't it be nice if the AF flight actually routes CDG-KUL-DPS and then it can send CGK bound passengers onto the KLM flight and at the same time take KLM's DPS bound passengers onboard. KC Sim

How does one make a once-weekly flight profitable? If the airline has done reasonably well operating with the BKI-PER route suspended, what is the compelling reason now to launch just one flight per week? The fly against all the common wisdom in the commercial aviation industry ... KC Sim

I cannot see how Temasek can sue an airline in Malaysia named Harimau Air just because it has one that is named Tiger Airways. I did not see United Airlines from USA suing Etihad (which incidentally means United) or even United Airways from Bangladesh. KC Sim

Very nice livery ... love the use of the brown colour on the tail and the trim on the engine nacelle. KC Sim

That is a very interesting development ... do you have a link to the article or somewhere that ties MAS' decision not to deploy the A380 to Sydney to this development? KC Sim