flee

Curious routing for the ferry flight as the A333 should be able to fly KUL-BAH non stop. Were they picking up crew/supplies/fuel in HDY? Yes, MAHB (another GLC) is causing D7 a lot of problems and should really offer a better solution to the parking problems. Next year, another three more A333s will arrive. So how are they going to accommodate them? Is D7 considering parking/storing their planes in HDY?

Yes, they need the money to pay for the new seats! The whole of AirAsia Group is now aggressively pursuing good yields and say that this is a matter of survival. They will not fly a plane if it is not going to make money. That explains why many flights are cancelled/consolidated at the last minute. This annoys pax and they have to be careful to manage the situation carefully. If too much bad feeling is generated, they will find that pax will dessert them. Pax will only travel with them if they win most of the time...

Before this can happen, we need to consider: 1 What is the present capacity of Subang Skypark? How many years will it take to saturate it? 2 What will happen when it is saturated? Will traffic be limited or will it be expanded? 3 Road infrastructure is poor - Subang Airport Highway is already a very congested road. So is NKVE/Fed Highway/Kesas/NPE interchanges... 4 Rail infrastructure is bad - KTM cannot be trusted to provide connectivity since it does not have enough Komuter trains and there will be a shortage for the next 2 or 3 years. 5 LRT/MRT infrastucture is bad - no plans to link Subang Skypark to the network. 6 No rail link between KLIA and Subang Skypark for quick and efficient transfers. I think it will take longer to travel from Subang Airport to KL Sentral than it does to do KLIA to KL Sentral in the morning or evening - times when pax like to travel for business. The idea seems good initially, but we can already see where the bottlenecks are...

Yes, that is why they are campaigning so hard for their SYD and JED rights. XAA still has the old non reclining sliding seats and will go in for refitting after this lease is completed.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, will replace economy-class seats in long-haul planes after passengers complained about discomfort, according to three people familiar with the plan. The existing coach seats, which have fixed-backs to prevent passengers from disturbing the person behind them when reclining, will be refitted and moved to short-haul and regional aircraft, said the people who declined to be identified before an announcement. The seats were in 41 Cathay planes at the end of last year. Older aircraft were refitted with the units in a program that ran from 2007 to November, 2009. “There’s been a lot of criticism of the seats,” said Shaun Rein, managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, which does consumer surveys for airlines and other clients. “It seems that Cathay is listening.” The airline will also overhaul business-class and first- class seats as part of the long-haul refit, which includes Boeing Co. 777-300ERs and some Airbus SAS A330s, according to the people. Cathay’s seat order for its last long-haul revamp, which included coach and business-class units, was expected to be worth about $155 million, Amin J. Khoury, chairman and chief executive officer of supplier B/E Aerospace Inc., said in a March 2006 conference call, according to a Bloomberg transcript. “While our passengers value the protection of living space afforded by the fixed backshell seat, we are constantly looking for ways we can further improve our products and services,” Carolyn Leung, a Cathay spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed reply to Bloomberg questions. Cathay will also add premium-economy seating in the long- haul revamp that will begin next year, said the people. Uncomfortable Seats The fixed-back seats are uncomfortable and don’t provide head support when put into the recline position as the cushions move downward rather than pivoting backward, said Ali Chan, a salesman for a credit-card maker, who flew on holiday to Rome with Cathay about two weeks ago. “I can usually sleep on planes, but this time I woke up again and again,” he said. “I would avoid flying long-haul in this seat next time.” B/E Aerospace, the world’s largest maker of cabin interiors, is working with Cathay on cushion upgrades for the fixed-back seats, said Greg Powell, a spokesman for the Wellington, Florida-based company. “We’re happy they’re taking the seats and putting them on an existing fleet,” he said. The fixed-back seats were specifically designed for Cathay, he said. The new revamp will be announced in early December, two of the people said. The airline is still working out the costs of the overhaul, which will take about two years to complete, all three said. Cathay operated 31 A330s and 18 777-300ERs at the end of June, according to its interim results announcement. The airline has 12 A330s fitted with long-haul cabins, according to its website. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/cathay-pacific-said-to-replace-economy-seats-after-passengers-complaints.html

Sydney Airport backs AirAsia X's bid to begin Sydney flights Sydney Airport has publicly backed Malaysia's AirAsia X in its bid for government approval to begin flights to Sydney. "Flights by AirAsia X would benefit passengers in both Malaysia and Australia and build tourism and cultural and commercial links in the two countries. Fundamentally, airlines should be able to fly where passengers want them to go," says the airport's CEO Russell Balding. AirAsia X, the long-haul operations of low-cost carrier AirAsia, had planned to begin flights to Sydney in mid-2010 but has not received approval to do so from the Malaysian government. It has said this is because the government wants to protect flag carrier Malaysia Airlines, which is the only airline flying between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney. This has been denied by Malaysian authorities, which said in April that AirAsia X's application is still being considered. The airline recently unveiled an Airbus A330 aircraft painted with the slogan "Liberate Sydney - end the monopoly" as it continues to lobby for rights to fly to Sydney. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/10/12/348356/sydney-airport-backs-airasia-xs-bid-to-begin-sydney.html

Another viewpoint might be that Tabung Haji was only able to secure the quota/slots that it wants by giving some of the flights to the Saudi national airline.

D7 CEO Azran has said this when some people asked him about this:

Not sure if it can be 100% trusted as SINGAPORE is not a D7 destination - only a MRO destination!

If it is a new aircraft, it should be 9M-XXH (cn 1165). If it is an old aircraft with new paintwork, it could be 9M-XAA (since it is the oldest plane in the fleet) as it carries the standard AK livery. D7 is now going "independent" and this new livery may be another measure to establish a separate identity for D7. Update: If you check out this thread, Azizul has confirmed that the rego is of the first D7 plane, 9M-XAA: http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=14945&st=0&gopid=264909entry264909

I think you meant to say that the plane is an A333!

Not sure what was it you saw, but Mwingers have shared some pix of AK's latest logojet: http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6926177 http://www.airliners.net/photo/AirAsia/Airbus-A320-216/1777601/M/ http://www.airliners.net/photo/AirAsia/Airbus-A320-216/1783216/M/

The new AK reggo series has kicked off with the recent delivery of 9M-AQA (cn 4404): Click here for large image: http://www.airliners.net/photo/AirAsia/Airbus-A320-216/1792702/L/&sid=0f86f530bd90817ee47c6277f5606931 9M-AQB (cn 4458) was first flown on 1 October and should arrive soon...

Airbus SAS’s A380 superjumbo, designed to carry 500 people per flight between the world’s biggest airport interchanges, is carving out an unexpected new market with direct travel to non-hub cities. Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first company to operate the A380 in 2007, is cutting costs by using the plane to reduce the number of flights to Zurich without slashing capacity. Gulf carrier Emirates has deployed it to Manchester in northern England, adding seats without the expense of extra services. More than 70 airports are equipped to handle the A380, which has a 262-foot (80-meter) wingspan and is 239 feet long, with Munich and Berlin among non-hubs seeking to secure flights from the five carriers that operate the plane and the 10 others with orders. The development is a boost for the Airbus flagship, which has won only one new airline buyer since it first flew. “The A380 was designed as a replacement for the 747, but as it’s deployed we’re finding that the execution is very often different than the forecast,” said Chris Tarry, an independent analyst in London who has followed the industry for almost 30 years. “Airlines need to match capacity with demand, and if you want to move lots of people in one go the A380 does just that.” Auckland, Jeddah Of the 20 destinations that the A380 currently serves, six -- Manchester, Zurich, Auckland, Melbourne, Montreal and Jeddah, the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia -- are absent from Airbus’s list of what it predicts will be the top 20 airports for the plane. For flights from smaller cities the A380 works best as a “strategic tool” when there’s no need for a high number of daily frequencies, Richard Carcaillet, Airbus’s marketing director for the model, said in an interview. “It’s logical to use the A380 where there’s the potential to increase traffic with one well-timed flight that catches the peak of demand and reduces your spill, or traffic that’s left behind because an aircraft is too small,” the executive said. Emirates, the No. 1 A380 customer with 13 in its fleet out of 90 on order, began operating the superjumbo to Jeddah four times a week in February, switching to a daily service in June. Manchester was added to the network last month, with the A380 replacing one of two daily Boeing Co. 777s and funneling a potential 525 more people a week to the Dubai hub the carrier is building as a rival to airports such as London Heathrow. “There were some very clear traffic flows which were calling for the A380,” Emirates Chief Executive Officer Tim Clark said in an interview. “The seat factors on Manchester flights were very high, which required an increase in gauge.” Crowd Puller The coming of the A380, which attracted 20,000 spectators for its first flight to Manchester, is “massively important” and was secured at a cost of 10 million pounds ($15.9 million) in upgrades, said Andrew Harrison, the airport’s managing director, who is hopeful the remaining 777 service might be switched to the superjumbo. Manchester, which handled 22 million people last year, ranking it fourth among U.K. airports, had initially regarded Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner as a more likely candidate for flights because the model is smaller and designed for direct services that don’t involve hub transfers, Harrison said in an interview. “We always talked about the Dreamliner being potentially more our kind of aircraft,” he said. “It would support longer haul and what we call in the business ‘thinner routes.’ But the Emirates route has proved to have loads of demand.” Emirates’ Clark says “similar points” in Germany, France, Asia, South Africa, Italy and China could support the superjumbo and lists Hamburg, Munich, Dusseldorf, Rome and Milan as possible destinations for the future. Singapore Switch Singapore Airlines deployed the A380 strategically in March when it replaced 12 weekly Boeing Co. 777 flights to Zurich -- which ranks as Switzerland’s biggest city but isn’t among the largest 150 in Europe -- with a daily superjumbo service. With the 777 seating 278 people and the A380 some 471, flights were reduced at a cost of 39 seats a week, maintaining feed to Singapore for connections across Asia and Australia while allowing a spare Boeing to be used for services to Munich. “This is operationally more efficient as mounting more flights carries incremental costs for landing, parking, over- flight and air traffic control, as well as for a full set of cabin and technical crew and additional fuel consumption,” said Nicholas Ionides, a spokesman for the carrier, which is the second-largest in the world by market value. Among secondary airports identified by Clark as likely A380 destinations, Munich, which opened in 1992, is “well prepared” for the superjumbo, having been built with a plane of its size in mind, according to spokesman Peter Pruemm. Berlin Ambitions The model has operated test flights to the south-German city “several times,” though no airlines have plans for scheduled services this year or next, he said. Berlin’s new airport, which opens in June 2012, will have a gate that is A380 compatible and is expecting to receive flights, said spokesman Leif Erichsen. Berlin is almost unique in being a capital city while lacking a major hub, with long- haul German flights focused on Frankfurt, he said. Airbus, which is owned by European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., markets the A380 as more fuel-efficient than older, smaller jets and says it helps alleviate congestion at major airports. EADS was trading down 5.5 cents, or 0.2 percent, at 17.82 euros as of 1:18 p.m. in Paris, paring gains this year to 26 percent and valuing the company at 14.5 billion euros. Cocktail Bars Airlines that operate the superjumbo -- which include Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa SA and Qantas Airways Ltd., as well as Emirates and Singapore Air -- say the plane is also creating its own market, luring flyers with a double-decker layout and on-board perks such as first-class cabins and cocktail bars. According to Airbus’s projections the five busiest airports for so-called very large aircraft by 2028 will be Hong Kong, Heathrow, Beijing, Dubai and Tokyo Narita, with 12 of the top 20 located in the Asia-Pacific. David Gamper, Geneva-based director of safety and technical affairs at the Airports Council International group, said the A380’s natural home may be “thicker hub-to-hub routes,” but that it will “migrate to thinner routes” as deliveries mount. “There are a lot of airports around the world which can accept the A380, usually with very little modification,” he said in an interview. “And more will need to accommodate it simply due to the number of airlines getting the plane.” Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-07/airbus-a380-jumbo-jet-bypasses-hubs-as-smaller-cities-clamor-for-flights.html

Good catch, these planes don't come calling every day!

Definitely a system bug - people had some problems with their bookings in the past 24-48 hours. I believe that D7 has no plans to do one-stop services (either via India or Middle East) to Europe. Their priority is to develop APAC routes before looking elsewhare. Incidently, D7's latest A333 first flew over a month ago. Delivery should be imminent, depending on whether the financing is in place....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1XubCSbP6g Air New Zealand revealed the new livery design for the first aircraft in its new domestic jet fleet. The new all black livery was unveiled in Sydney today by Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe, in recognition of the airline's long time support of the nation's favourite game. "In celebration of Air New Zealand's long running support of rugby in New Zealand, our first new A320 will arrive in January sporting a sleek black livery complete with silver fern motif and Koru on its tail," says Rob Fyfe. Air New Zealand's sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby Football union, including the All Blacks, enters its seventeenth year in 2011. The first aircraft will be the only one in the fleet featuring the new all black livery. "Air New Zealand is crazy about rugby and from February this distinctive new plane will be operating on our main domestic New Zealand routes, says Mr Fyfe. The new domestic fleet of A320 aircraft, combined with Air New Zealand's new long-haul fleet of Boeing 777-300 aircraft, which begin arriving from the end of this year, will ensure the airline continues to have one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world.

That is why they are flying the B734s from KUL - cos MH has the MRO capability to maintain them at low cost. A new aircraft type will mean that the maintenance costs will be higher. So total CAPEX and OPEX will be lower. Yes, I agree. Free and fair competition should be encouraged as it encourages airlines to improve and offer better value to its customers.

Regional jets are not an option since FY already has something between 50 to 100 seats, the 70 seat ATR-72. If it needs something smaller, the only option for low fleet opex would be the ATR-42. B734 does make some sense because lease cost will be very low - so total operational costs would be OK. It is a nice step up to 130 seats, if it retains the MH configuration. The main problem with FY's business model is that it will operate out of KLIA, and pax cannibalisation from MH will be inevitable. However, MH might not be too bothered with that as long as it also cannibalises pax from AK, FD and QZ. No one knows if this will work. We just got to wait and see...

Decision by year-end on Firefly jet services PETALING JAYA: Firefly, the alternative low-cost carrier for selected routes, will know by the year-end if it will commence jet services out of KL International Airport (KLIA), in addition to its turboprop flights from Subang airport. Sources indicate the outcome from Firefly wanting to utilise parent company Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) B737-400 planes for Firefly’s expansion plans, which may include Asean routes, should be known soon. While FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Eddy Leong decline to comment on this matter, he did say that the carrier had submitted an application to the relevant authorities for expansion of its operations. “We will furnish more information once the approvals are obtained,” he said in an e-mail response to StarBiz yesterday. With MAS identifying Asean as the group’s main growth region under its business transformation plan, Leong said Firefly was evaluating various options to match its product with the differing market segments. MAS, which now leases 37 units of B737-400 aircraft, is set to decommission and replace these planes with new B737-800s as part of its fleet renewal strategy that runs into 2015. MAS will be taking delivery of its first B737-800 aircraft next week from Seattle, the United States. To facilitate the expansion plans of its wholly-owned unit Firefly, MAS may continue to lease the B737-400s and charge Firefly a fee for the utilisation of these planes as opposed to buying new aircraft for Firefly. This is due to MAS’ own cashflow and balance sheet needs considering that it is taking on new aircraft over the next few years: 35 B737-800s (with option for another 20) and 15 A330-300s (option for another 10). MAS managing director and chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Azmil Zahruddin has previously said that the airline did not rule out the possibility of passing the B737-400 aircraft to Firefly for the latter’s future expansion needs. Firefly, which currently operates seven ATR 75-200s for domestic routes, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, will take delivery of another two ATRs by the year-end and another by January next year. It has also recently announced plans to buy another four ATRs and aims to increase its frequencies of existing routes with the ATR planes. A recent daily report suggested that Firefly may look to expand to Asean markets in future, based on an anonymous advertisement carried in a daily seeking positions for pilots with ATR and Boeing 737 experience to be based at Subang Airport and KLIA. The advertiser described itself as a leading regional airlines owned by a public-listed company with the government holding a majority stake. “For Malaysia Airlines, the B737-400 planes are no longer viewed as a quality product and competitive if you were to compare with airlines such as AirAsia and Singapore Airlines,” observed an aviation analyst, who declined to be named. The analyst, who is attached to a local research house, said the fuel consumption of these older Boeing aircraft was higher, at an average of 10% to 15% more per seat basis than the newer models. He also added that the market valuation for the B737-400 planes were much lower than new aircraft, such as the A320. “If you look at market valuation for an A320 now, it is about US$42mil compared with a B737-400, which is roughly between US$3mil and US$4mil,” he said. A consideration for MAS in passing over its older Boeing aircraft to Firefly would be the potential routes that the latter will ply, to avoid direct competition between both airlines. Analysts said Firefly would probably fly secondary routes, therefore competing directly with budget carrier AirAsia. “With the airline industry being a commodity now, pricing point will be the biggest decision maker for customers in choosing the airline,” said the local research house analyst. Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/7/business/7175665&sec=business

Yes, they are merely asking what equipment will be used for this service. D7 is not planning any new aircraft but to use existing resources for this service - see: http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=14945

Well food at Subang in the old days also cost an arm and a leg. Its the SOP at all airports.

Great coverage Norman, and thanks for posting the pix up so quickly! Did anyone else from MWings attend this event?

Thanks Capt Nik, for allowing MWings privileged access to this momentous occasion. If you are able to achieve this wish of purchasing a second hand B777-300, wouldn't it be a challenge to maintain the aircraft in house as you do not have any in the MH fleet currently. Moreover, the GE engines will require different maintenance compared to the RR's on the B777-200. So the fuel burn savings may not be as high after taking into account of the additional costs of ownership, unless you plan high aircraft utilisation. Yes, it would be good if you can have independent marketing so that you can establish your own branding for this unique product.

This sort of thing was common in AirAsia's early days. However, once the fleet size grows, aircraft going tech will become less of a problem.