MAS A380 - Fleet to be Retained

[MAS A380 - Fleet to be Retained]

 

Well most of us here at MWings were highly sceptical of that plan. Furthermore, we also thought that the sudden withdrawal of the B747 and B777 fleets were a huge over reaction to MAS' billion MYR losses.

 

Now they have come up with another half baked plan for the A380. It is going to be used as a super sub on (seasonal) routes with heavy traffic. At other times, it will do the pilgrimage runs. It would appear that the A380 fleet will be lightly utilised. But that is the best it can do - the alternative is to park the planes in the (KLIA) desert.

 

The A350 does not look like it will have a future. It was part of the knee jerk reaction that retired the B747/777 fleets. It would appear that they can't back out of the lease - so they just took it and will return it when the lease ends or when it is possible to terminate them. The current A333s also look like they will go back to lessors because they were leased at a time when the rates were still high. The ex-AB A332s were bargains and that was why they were snapped up - they will replace the expensive A333s when the time comes.

 

So that leaves us with the MoU for B789s. It would appear that these are going to be the A333's true replacements - if the MoU is firmed up. It is a rather roundabout way to get the 787s!

I thought all 6 had undergone heavy maintenance last year?

 

 

I think the MoU has now expired

[MAB A350-900 Regional Flights to PEN, BKK, SIN & BKI from 9 December 2017]

More info from the spies at the MH Rumour Department:

 

 

It will leave TLS on the 29th and most likely arrive in KUL on the 30th, depending on the time it departed from TLS. The 'rumour' is pretty accurate though

[Capt Izham Ismail is the New CEO of Malaysia Airlines]

Just to get the ball rolling.. The press have speculated either Omar Saddiq or Shahril Mohktar.

 

Brief profile:

 

Omar Saddiq

• Age: 43
• Current CFO of MAB
• Experience:
• PwC, Khazanah, CIMB
• Degree in Economics from LSE

Shahril Mokhtar

• Age:44
• Current CEO of MRT Corp
• Experience:
• PwC, BAT, SPAD, PMB (Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad), RapidKL
• Also Director at Prasarana and MyHSR

Hope to have mature discussion here, very interesting topic.

 

My own opinion at this point, is that I hope bigger names than the above are considered. But both still relatively young, and perhaps that's what the company needs.

 

The Board just had their meeting today. They'll probably going to announce an interim CEO first.

[Peter Bellew]

It could be both, a better package plus problems in the current company.

 

However I thought I read somewhere that Ryanair is also having problem with large number of their pilot leaving en-mass, resulting in flight cancellation?

 

PB was actually poached by Ryanair to resolve the pilot issues.

​If you ask me, that accolade does not belong to Ryanair - there is that legendary brewery at St James' Gate that must have slipped Mr Bellew's memory somehow

 

I think the word 'legendary' speaks for itself?

[MAB A350-900 Regional Flights to PEN, BKK, SIN & BKI from 9 December 2017]

Hot hot hot from the MH Rumour Department:

 

 

 

Latest I heard is, BKK will also be included as training flights

[MAB to Lease 6 Ex-Air Berlin Airbus A330-200 Aircraft from February 2018]

 

Are they going to standardise it to all 32 inch?

 

Some notes about AB's A332:

- AB has a total of 7 in the fleet so let's guess which one that MH did not take.

- The fleet is old. The oldest aircraft is 18 years old, while the youngest is 11 years old.

- All are configured 19J 271Y with AB.

- It's nice that MH sourced these aircraft from AB, who is a fellow oneworld member. At least MH can claim that it is in a way supporting the alliance.

- Pictures of the aircraft suggested that they are wifi enable. I hope MH will not disable this function.

 

 

 

 

Quoting PB's statement to the media: "The six aircraft will have a two class configuration, 287 seats with 19 fully lie flat Business Class seats, brand new IFE on all seats and WiFi."

So I guess the wifi will still be there

[MAB to Lease 6 Ex-Air Berlin Airbus A330-200 Aircraft from February 2018]

MAB held a special briefing to the media today and confirmed that an LOI has been signed with a lessor for lease of six A330-200 (pretty sure its Air Berlin)

[MAB Signed MOU for 8 787-9 and 8 737 Max 8 During Najib-Trump Visit]

Since 787-9 is now thrust into the picture, perhaps MAB should establish a separate division for that kind of fleet specifically for Ultra Long Haul routes. MAB should make it work.

 

West coast of North America is within reach from KUL.

 

787-9 had always been in the picture. MH has been evaluating the 787-9 v A330neo for quite a while now. It gives MH the flexibility of continuing the regional expansion and when the numbers are right, explore the ultra long haul.

[MAB to Lease 6 Ex-Air Berlin Airbus A330-200 Aircraft from February 2018]

Any updates on whether these lease acquisitions are still taking place?

The available options are still being evaluated

[MAB Signed MOU for 8 787-9 and 8 737 Max 8 During Najib-Trump Visit]

I am saddened by this news that MH is back to purchasing aircraft they don't need or even planned. They even have yet to get rid of the 6 A380s. And they already identified surplus A350 from its 6 lease having nowhere to fly them apart from LHR. Operating a small fleet of 6 A350 and 8 787 does not make any good business sense at all. Good Lord.

 

I imagined Bellew would be devastated as we saw how extra careful he was when planning the fleet and what they exactly want (i.e. the second hand A333s). Out of sudden, boom. 8 brand new 787.

 

Is this also part of the pre election ploy? Jeez!

 

I am praying it will be just a Letter of Intent and nothing more.

 

It's an MoU..so its non-binding

[MAB A350-900 Regional Flights to PEN, BKK, SIN & BKI from 9 December 2017]

Should be interesting to see if they skip the 9M-MAD reggo...

No, they didn't. 9M-MAD is registered to the third aircraft

[British Airways Returned to Kuala Lumpur from 27 May 2015 and with B787-9 from 5 December 2015]

I was on flight BA 33 departing on 14 June 2017.

 

Was op-up to F after boarding! (Faint)

 

Totally unexpected. Literally speechless. Severely under-dressed (dressed bordering Premium Economy-ish).

 

Apart from a lousy Samsung Note 3 phone, didn't bring a good camera to document the historic event in all its glory. (Cry)

Share the joy with some pictures please

[MAB A350-900 Regional Flights to PEN, BKK, SIN & BKI from 9 December 2017]

Thank you for your input, wee kc too.

 

Just now, Philippines Airlines launched its newly reconfigured tri-class A333 with Thompson Vantage XL for J, replacing previously mono class 414 Y-only seat. Sign of what is coming for MH's A350 which is rumoured to have same J ?? https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155209463670867&id=117387315866

 

I think MH's A350 will have Thompson Vantage for J and Vantage XL for F

[MAB Negaraku Special Livery]

 

Had friends who involved with the maintenance work and we had some talk about it. As for now, there's no plan for painting yet and shockingly, they never heard of it, out of the picture. The crews are catching for deadline which Tango Charlie should be out before Raya celebration to cater for peak season. Add on, Tango Kilo will make a short one week visit to base next week for the same reason.

 

That's because they'll most likely use decals rather than paint.

[MAS passengers stranded in Auckland]

Yes, that is why I have my annual travel insurance policy - with that, I can help myself and not need to feel so helpless.

With a spare A380 sitting around in the hangar, I wonder why MAB did not immediately despatch it in place of the regular A330 and mount a rescue flight?

 

Are you sure its a spare? I heard that 2 of the A380s is grounded due to problems with their Trent engines.

[MAB Cabin Crew Reduction on All Flights]

Last week, I took a return flight from KUL to SDK, and I noted that for both flights, only 2 cabin crew served the entire economy class. Is this a norm now to cut down the number of crew serving Y class as part of further cost cutting measures? I recalled that a couple of months ago (September 2016), when I did the KUL-KCH flights, there were still 3 crew serving us in Y. I think if I am not wrong, there used to be 4 crew allocated for Y?

 

Also I noted the service and boarding sequence was not consistent. For my flight from KUL-SDK, the boarding was done based on seating position and not seating rows - those seated on A and F were boarded first, followed by B and E, and then C and D.This was something new to me! In terms of meals, the crew served the food round first (in a meal box - mains, water, and peanuts), and then followed by drinks round served with a dessert (a slice of chocolate cake). On my return flight from SDK, the boarding was chaotic where everyone boarded the aircraft (as usual), and the meals and drinks were served together as per normal service (meal box with a choice of mains, water, and peanuts) and no dessert!

 

I noticed that meal service time took up more than 1.5 hours for both flights (with the usual - fasten seat belt sign on during meals service so no hot drinks!). Since the flight time was 2.5hours, this is fine. But I would imagine if it is a flight from KUL to KCH, they would be a bit short on time.

 

Anyone experienced this?

 

 

Yes. Currently MAB is trialling 4 person crew with narrowbodies. Apparently, it's the global industry standard with 95% of airlines adopting 4 person crews on their NBs. However, out of those 4, I think they should fix 2 crews for Economy class, 1 for business class and 1 alternating.