flee

It has also made it onto CNN... Wonder if it contravenes ICAO rules?

ANA converts 15 787-8s to -9s Boeing 787 launch operator All Nippon Airways (ANA) will convert 15 of its 55 787-8s order to larger -9 aircraft, joining a growing list of customers to make the switch. The -9s will "meet the increasing need for 400 seat-capacity aircraft for domestic routes, and will further improve the flexibility of our fleet and network planning", says ANA, which has said it plans to have domestic and long-haul configurations for its 787-8s, These 400-seat 787-9s will complement, and likely replace, the 418-seat 777-200s that ANA operates today on short-haul routes. In January, ANA converted 28 787-3s, intended for short-haul high-cycle high-capacity domestic operations, to 787-8s. The move erased the remaining backlog for the model, virtually eliminating any chance the variant will ever be built. ANA joins a growing list of 787 customers converting to the stretch 787-9, which is designed to seat 280 passengers in a three-class configuration. The 787-9 is 6.1m longer than the -8 and has a design range of 15,000km (8,135nm). Air China recently converted 15 of its 787-8s to -9s, while Vietnam Airlines converted 16. Excluding today's conversion by ANA, Boeing holds orders for 847 787s, split between 205 787-9s and 642 -8s. That breakdown is expected to further shift towards the -9 as its capabilities become clearer. ANA did not specify a timeline for delivery of the 787-9s, which are slated to enter service with Air New Zealand at the end of 2013. The Japanese carrier, which has yet to announce its first destination with the 787, is currently slated to receive its first 787-8 in February 2011 after nearly three years of delays. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/09/30/347965/ana-converts-15-787-8s-to-9s.html

SINGAPORE: An RSAF Apache AH-64 helicopter made an emergency landing near a residential area in northern Singapore on Thursday. The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said the helicopter made the forced landing in an open field between Woodlands Avenue 12 and Woodlands Drive 75 at about 3.30pm. Channel NewsAsia received a call at around 3.40pm from a member of the public. Mr Kwek Chee Heng said he was driving past the field when the incident happened. He described what he saw. "In the beginning, I thought the helicopter had landed for display. But when I looked clearly, the helicopter had broken into two parts - behind and in front. The tail had broken into two parts. And the helicopter was on the side, fallen on the side." Mr Kwek said the two pilots appeared to be uninjured, adding that they were standing next to the grounded helicopter. No fire was reported. A MINDEF statement said there has been no damage to civilian property or injury to personnel. MINDEF is investigating the incident. Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1084293/1/.html

KC, this should make it easier for you to get to Quito, won't it?

Another point to note is that both BKK and SIN have a lot more airlines and flights into SYD than KUL. Many pax from KUL are catching flights from BKK or SIN if they do not fancy flying on MH from KUL-SYD. This is particularly the case for people who wanted to fly with SQ as they wish to fly on the SQ A380 services.

Congratulations and here is wishing you and MAS Charters a great 2011 ahead! It is always a proud moment to see our national flag carrier achieve success and I am sure that everyone in your team is looking forward to the upcoming challenges.

Leased from BBAM ferried BFI-HNL-MAJ-GUM-KUL 23 - 25-09-2010 on delivery

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) (3786) is looking at 40 per cent capacity increase next year for flights from Indian cities, based on growing demand from business and leisure travellers. MAS plans to leverage on the delivery of new planes and increased frequencies of flights to support the projected growth, MAS' regional manager for South Asia operations Azahar Hamid said. The national carrier currently boasts a yield factor of 85 per cent for flights from South Asian destinations. "South Asia is now looking to Southeast Asia and Malaysian destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi for both tourism and trade," he told reporters at Penang's Eastin Hotel. "With the expansion of our fleet of aircraft for the Indian sector, we expect to fly in more travellers to Malaysia as we continue to promote the leisure and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions sector." Under MAS' fleet renewal programme, new Airbus aircraft will replace the current fleet plying the New Delhi and Chennai sectors, while Mumbai will be serviced by the Boeing 777 and Hyderabad and Bangalore, the 737. Azahar who also oversees the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan markets, was in Penang with MAS' area manager for Tamil Nadu and Kerala Wan Mohd Ebrahem and about 100 delegates from the South Asia travel fraternity. "We want to showcase Penang to South Asia's top tourism supporters of Malaysia Airlines, since the destination has now added appeal with George Town's inscription as a World Heritage Site," he said. The hosting of the top agents from South Asia involves the participation of 10 member hotels in Penang, which come under the Malaysia Hotel Association umbrella on the island. Apart from a business dialogue between these agents and selected in-bound travel agents from Penang, the group will also be holding discussions with Penang tourism authorities on how to further boost tourism promotion for the island state. Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit is expected to attend an official dinner in Penang tonight to welcome the foreign delegates. Meanwhile, Penang can also expect to come under the scrutiny of potential South Indian investors, thanks to MAS, which is facilitating industry discussions for the local trade sector and their Indian counterparts. In town this week, are representatives of Sri City (Pte) Ltd, the developers of a special economic zone in South India. The business delegation is expected to have dialogue sessions with the Penang branch of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with state investment promotion officials. - By Marina Emmanuel Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/MASINDIA/Article/ I think that this proves what AirAsia said about MH is true. Competition is good and opens up market opportunities for both airlines. So MH should not be afraid to see SYD and other destinations opened up for competition. Monopolies are for lazy people wanting fat profits.

Well it looks like they have ordered B737-700's to replace their older planes. In the long term, they may just end up with just one aircraft type when all their new planes are delivered.

Southwest is more interested in the AirTran hubs I think.

Yes, it would appear to be the case. There could also be pax who currently fly to STN to connect to EU destinations - some might even want to go to Paris! So it would not make too much difference to them whether they fly to STN or ORY. But my personal opinion is that they are not prepared to commit further resources (e.g. leasing another A343) to a new service until it has proven itself. If ORY proves to be a success, they will probably allocate more resources. They learnt their lesson from the AUH disaster.

A D7 insider has said that they will continue with existing resources. 6X to STN and 4X to ORY each week. I guess that they are not so confident about the demand to ORY - so they would hedge their bets first before taking on more commitments. The LCCT cannot accommodate aircraft longer than the A333/343, so leasing the A346 to ply the STN route is also not a real option.

I think they have started to do this - Tony Fernandes himself has taken charge of the call centre. So lets hope he is able to fix the problems.

Guys, here is something for you to catch on 9M-XXG "Southern Xcross". From AirAsia X's CEO: http://twitpic.com/2seamq

From AirAsia X's CEO: http://twitpic.com/2seamq

Just had another look, they also levy RM 16 for "airport charges and fees" for BWN-KUL. Normally, if you have to pay airport taxes at the counter (e.g. to Indonesian destinations), the amount shown is RM 0. Not sure what the RM 16 charge at BWN is for though...

Not quite - this Bernama report (originally brought to our attention by Sri Ramani) has some statistics: I think that in 2010, AirAsia will also exceed MAS numbers on the international sectors.

Many thanks Azizul. I think that MH may have realised that the KUL-SYD-BNE service has weakened the product to both SYD and BNE. As such, they have announced that these are delinked with effect from 31 Oct 2010. MH will also be deploying its new A333s on the KUL-BNE routes when the new planes arrive. The changes are probably too late to influence 2010 statistics but it should be interesting to see the impact of these measures in 2011.

We have some numbers for those who are interested: http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=12195&st=100 These prove conclusively that in 2009, the routes which are exclusive to MH all suffered a decline in passenger traffic (and therefore not in the national interest) into KLIA. On those routes where D7 are competing with MH, the market has expanded and grown. So MH's argument that introducing competition on the KUL-SYD route is really made on very flimsy grounds. Thanks Azizul, for providing some objective statistics to add to this discussion.

Not good but to be expected, isn't it? In a recoverying economy, Changi has more international airlines operating out of it than KLIA. KLIA depends more on its home airlines to increase traffic. As such, the increase in passenger volume will not be as large as those brouught in by the many and varied international airlines serving Changi.

Passenger Movements At KLIA Rise To 3.025 Million In July KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- Total passenger movements at KL International Airport (KLIA) in July 2010 rose to 3.025 million from 2.671 million in July 2009, said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) in a statement Friday. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, MAHB said international passengers amounted to 2.127 million while domestic about 899,000. The airport operator said passenger movements for its other airports were 2.048 million in July this year compared with 1.895 million in the same month last year. For cargo movements, KLIA recorded a total of 57.491 million kg in July 2010 compared with 52.934 million kg in July 2009. For other airports, cargo movements rose to 22.173 million kg from 18.903 million kg. Aircraft movements at KLIA totalled 20,949 in July 2010 million compared with 19,329 in July last year. Aircraft movements at other airports rose to 28,807 from 26,876. More here: http://announcements.bursamalaysia.com/EDMS/edmsweb.nsf/all/E1F3B737AE6B1742482577A800332EBC/$File/July%202010.xls

Well, at least they do not use taxpayers' money for bailouts. They also have to repay loans to the providers of capital - banks and financial institutions. They will pay airport charges and taxes to MAHB, taxes on their profits. They will employ lots of workers and contribute to their EPF. Their workers will pay Malaysian taxes. Malaysian taxpayers don't need to worry too much about AirAsia sucking money from them. As for customers, they always have the option to to be sucked dry by AirAsia - fly with another airline.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says a US Airways A320 departing the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in clouds the morning of 16 September may have come within 15m (50ft) vertically of a Bemidji Aviation Services Beech 99 cargo aircraft that had also departed the airport on a parallel runway. An investigation is underway of the incident, which occurred at 06:49 am after air traffic controllers asked US Airways flight 1848 to "turn left and head west" immediately after takeoff from Runway 30R. The cargo plane, with one pilot aboard and no passengers, had been cleared to takeoff from the parallel runway, 30L, at the same time as Flight 1848 departed. The A320 was carrying 90 passengers and five crew members and was enroute to Philadelphia. "Neither pilot saw the other aircraft because they were in the clouds, although the captain of the US Airways flight reported hearing the Beech 99 pass nearby," says the NTSB. "Estimates based on recorded radar data indicate that the two aircraft had 50-to-100ft of vertical separation as they passed each other approximately 1,500ft above the ground." The NTSB says the US Airways aircraft was equipped with a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) that issued climb instructions to the crew to avoid the collision. The Beech 99 was not equipped with TCAS and the pilot was unaware of the proximity of the Airbus, says the agency, adding that there were no reports of damage or injuries from either aircraft. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/09/23/347763/ntsb-investigates-minneapolis-near-miss.html NTSB press release: http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2010/100923b.html

Operating into a city is not about just been given the rights. There are many factors to consider and here are some of them: 1 Potential passenger demand - this determines the frequency that is needed. If there is little or no demand to justify the service, why bother flying there. D7 is not a subsidised govt. owned flag carrier! 2 Ground arrangements - note that D7 actually tried to start Japan operations about two years ago but could not because the ground arrangement negotiations did not conclude favourably. At that time Japanese govt. and airport authorities did not understand the requirements of an LCC. 3 Aircraft availability - D7 is having difficulty sourcing A340-300 aircraft for services into EU. As such it has not place a lot of priority on EU destinations. D7 will probably look at EU routes again after its A350 aircraft arrives in 2015. Meanwhile it must focus on money making routes - and these are in the Asia Pacific. It has to generate revenue to pay for all those spanking new planes that are being delivered! 4 D7 is a new airline funded with private capital from Malaysia and overseas. Investors expect the airline to make profits, or at least break even. Unlike a govt airline like MH, D7 cannot ask for a taxpayer bail out. The Singapore govt. is prepared to let SQ fail - that makes its management sit up and run the business professionally knowing that a bail out is not an option. I for one would NOT WANT the govt. to bail out D7 if it fails - taxpayers have bailed out MH to the tune of billions of RM already. It is better to spend taxpayers' money on other more important areas in the Malaysian economy. So it is imperative that D7 is profitable. Tolerance for losses is near to zero. That is exactly what D7 is trying to do at SYD, open up a new market for low cost travel. That was what it has successfully done in other Australian cities. Melbourne is now so well served with double daily flights. Even MH has benefited as it also increased its frequencies to double daily. With D7 opening a new market and stimulating the once sleepy KUL-MEL route, even a foreign airline like Emirates want in on the action! Q.E.D.

Tuan Khiem, Beautiful shot and beautiful clean immaculate paintwork!