Timothy

not the best source, but according to WiKi Narita was more like a "horizontal lift" ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita_Airport_Terminal_2_Shuttle_System Definitely not the same system as KLIA since I remember the KLIA aerotrain has rubber wheels. also in Narita it was eventually removed, but the space was built up into retails space instead. Perhaps KLIA was thinking going the way of KLIA2/T2 , long corridors with the occasional travelator ? just a wild guess but having 1st hand experience of how suppliers squeeze (old high rise, lift company has a basic monopoly on parts.) and they are charging close to a new lift system every 10 years. Why not just change to a new system? Because the users can't accept the downtime / hassle of having some of the lifts out of action. but in KLIA case, the downtime is already here ... so what's left to see how much they're going to spend to get it going again.

I think we should also create a list of defunct "airlines" in Malaysia. Rayani, Silverfly, Seaga ... from the news articles it seems like a big deal to have a new airline, yet history shows this is nothing new.

Thank you for sharing the pictures ! A breath of fresh air for us that have not stepped on a plane in almost 2 years !

Just an armchair assessment from me, but it would be interesting to see which airline would be first to become a fully integrated tourism player. This means cutting out all other players and middle man ie: Travel Agents (Online included), Taxi/Buses, even Hotels. . JAL had something similar with Hotel Nikko and Airport Shuttles running between the airport. With COVID19, they could take it even further with tour packages going only to their "Properties" ie Hotel, Restaurant, Beaches etc. All minor investments compared to buying a B787 AND it's currently a buyers market if anyone is looking for hotels or tourism related plays. The local businesses (run by the airline) would contribute tax back to the local Govt. Definitely less competition since your passengers will only stay at your hotel, but standards are able to be kept consistently throughout the trip. If some thing goes wrong, only 1 entity to complain to. It would be something new, say if the hotel room AC broke, and compensation was an upgrade for the flight out the next day 😁 Business travel has likely seen it's peak in 2019, after COVID19 and thanks to Zoom / Online Meetings there is nearly no reason for that "last minute" Business Class + 5* (3 nights stay) + Travel Allowance to LHR for an urgent meeting anymore. Trade off for having more flexible working hours in the new normal. In terms of the tourism eco-system, Airlines are the most well funded compared to all other player. Even Hotel Chains don't own or even lease most of their properties leaving it to the franchise holder to shoulder all the business risk. Airlines are different, whereby even if a plane is leased, the money is already out of pocket and will continue to be drawn on regardless if that plane is used. So I expect Airlines have the most incentive to come up with a way to get out of this hole.

The big questions is, how do they know things will get better ? AirAsia X has never "sold" itself as a medium haul carrier, with most of the ASEAN routes served by various AK joint ventures. Just like announcements from major hospitality chains, I'm learning to take these sort of "forward looking" news with plenty of salt. COVID19 has thrown a major spanner into what was already an uncertain world.

thanks for the breakdown ! The announcement could have been released with more tact, ie: Sabah Governemnt Partners AirAsia on Digital Growth etc Worst still are "leaders" who release statements just for emotional mileage.

any idea if this affects the ATR service operated by Malindo for Royal Brunei Airlines ?

hahaha, but the main point is that SQ are trying to work with what they have. MAG has a few Central Kitchens around Malaysia, it wouldn't be far fetched to team up with a delivery service (Grab/Food Panda) to partner in their respective Cloud Kitchen programs. this is partly in jest, but if KFC can bring in billions by selling Fried Chicken, satay could just be MH's moon shot 😄

I thought that MAG was supposed to be that "fresh start" ? What's the rationale for this ? Shouldn't MH be looking into creating new profit centers, ie Singapore Airlines going into F&B, AirAsia doing something with an App ... This offer shows how out of touch they are to "retrain" staff into roles which likely will be replaced by automation very soon anyway.

an unqualified thought, but with the new MAG Chairman could GoM actually be considering a buyout (vs bailout) of AirAsia ? following Petronas model of national monopoly, creating a world class player to compete internationally.

curious on what's there to do in Sandakan for this type of guests ? Any pointers on who handles the ground tour portion ... I'm assuming it's a local outfit. with international travel out of the question due to COVID19, would be great to see what we've been missing out domestically

Thank you Jahur & Silverfly07 for the inputs ! I stand corrected on the Single vs Multi Engine pov for Borneo operations. I guess my main gripe with RAS is how inconvenient it is for the user, as a area with a ATR72 capable airport cannot be that "rural" (Except Mulu maybe?). Didn't know there was a study previously by DCA and State Govt for floaters, would have been interesting to know what was concluded there.

I took your cue, and from Wiki seems Susi lost 1 PC6 during an aerial survey ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susi_Air#Incidents_and_accidents . Susi is also operating in very remote areas with no easy access to maintenance for their equipment unlike existing RAS in Sarawak or Sabah. I'll just circle back to my post some way up, that RAS in it's current form is too bloated and not fit for purpose. Example If I want to go from Bintulu to Kapit, it's 20 minutes RAS Bintulu - Sibu on a ATR (!!) then half hour taxi to town hoping to catch a 6 hour boat ride (without accounting for waiting time at the airport or boat, it's already 8 hours journey) ... when it should really be 40 minutes all-in from Bintulu Town (Kemena River) to Kapit Town (Rajang River) on an amphibian. From your example, the Airbus Heli was Military yes ? I'm bringing this up because DESPITE us having subsidy for RAS we STILL use other resources to get the job done. This is an obvious case of money gone to waste. In the meantime, while Susi Air is being used as a "bad" example now, in 10 years I'm confident Indonesia will be way more connected than us because of government encouragement of the private sector. The only way roads can be "green" is if there are built underground 😁

First and foremost, cost. Twins are more expensive up front, and more expensive to operate compared to single engine. Simply put, double the engine, double the complexity, double the fuel etc of a single engine. Anything that is subsidized will never last, so may as well get it over with and use cost effective options to get the job done. Don't "plan for the next 30 years" and build faraway airports just to cater less than 10 flights a day with planes that are too big for their purpose ! In terms of safety, have you experienced an engine failure in flight ? If not, then the chances of it happening on a single engine is the same. There's no guarantee either that the crew will know how to manage a engine failure situation in multi-engine aircraft ie: TransAsia Airways Flight 235 RAS should be plain and simple, like a bus ride. Pay RM100 and fly for an hour ... not the current way of compulsory pre-booking, loyalty program, moving prices ... wrong model for it's purpose.

they need to approach RAS with a different mind-set. Equipment type is all wrong, (ATR72 and DHC) .. it should be floatplanes and single engine types to really serve it's purpose. Example people in Kapit need to travel 5 hours by BOAT to reach their nearest airport in Sibu. If taking Bintulu - Sibu flight, the journey to the airport (half hour) is longer than the actual flight time !

so keeping the A380 while the major operators are letting them go ? wonder if the "skid marks" represent hesitation or even braking efforts from an intellectual 🤣 Livery wise, it's a good combo as gold goes well with dark or red. not too sure if coloring around the door edges will last as long ... or if wings are even allowed to be painted ? missing a marketing opportunity leaving those engine nacelles blank. Athough if coloring them black with gold wau, may just be too close of a reminder to petroleum oil ?

any idea what this Basler BT-67 does? seen in Bintulu at regular intervals as well. best guess for O&G, but "Bell GeoSpace" is a long way away for a retro-fitted turboprop ! does it even go "home" ?

do you have a contact (preferably a instructor) who I can check with ? Also in case anyone is interested , reply from MFA :

Hi all , Resurrecting this topic 8 years on ! Still haven't gotten started on PPL and with the recent COVID19 , things are going very slow work-wise. Sliver lining is a possible break (career wise) to pursue this 🙂 Re-looking into getting a PPL in Malaysia, thankfully MFA now states on their website such a course would take 3 months full-time. Wondering if anyone has other suggestions ? Open to options such as Australia as well IF there is a clear advantage in doing so.

wish they could have included all the state flags or emblems & Malaysia flag into the design. far cry from the very memorable Hibiscus livery.

was it 2015 when the Domestic GL was last closed ? Added the noodle bar but left out fixing the toilet / showers Silver lining was Maggi Cup noodles at B3 which IMHO are much tastier that Noodle Bar offerings. Since both lounges (and maybe SIN?) are re-opening on the same day, good chance of a new lounge style launch ?

any idea what will happen to the CX lounge ? been staffed by Plaza Premium people for the past 2 years, will it become another PP lounge ?

glad everyone is safe from this mishap. what happened has happened, however it seems both MABs (Malaysia Airlines & Malaysia Airport Holdings) lack prep to deal with incidents at airports other than KLIA. Sibu airport only expected to open 10/4 Monday Noon. 37 hours to clear a runway ? News reports pending "Recovery Kit" from Kuching & Kuala Lumpur. Kuching is only 4 hours drive by bus, couldn't the equipment come on a trailer ? Also didn't see the logo or titles masked over on the aircraft. Isn't this a logical step to minimize bad publicity ?

so further clarification from Enrich, is that Q fare (Economy Promo) on MasWings are not eligible for sectors/miles. Yet on MH's own website http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/us/en/enrich/earn-enrich-miles.html it says 25% accrual. I usually plan my flights to keep my Enrich Gold, and this throws me off by almost 20 sectors .

seems MasWings never register Enrich sector/miles since 2016 ... anyone else facing the same issue ? even more annoying, was told I could not claim for some of my MasWings tickets because it's a promo rate.