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HANOI: Mekong, Vietnam’s third private air carrier, is scheduled to launch its first flights on October 10, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. “The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) will finish its checks and appraisal to enable Air Mekong’s operation next month,” the company said in a press release. “Air Mekong is scheduled to begin selling tickets from mid-September and to launch its first flights on October 10,” the company said. — Bernama

Guys, I think Hon Kit is saying it tongue in cheek as well. These are Boeing 737-800's or B738s. The Boeing 787 is not yet in service!

Look at the PDF (link above) of the quarterly results above and details of the fuel hedging are contract profits/losses for 2009 and 2010 are there.

This amount may never be known as it is built into the aircraft price and is further clouded by the various financing instruments. We can guess that it should reduce the overall cost of operations for MH but it will never be reported as one lump sum like in Q1.

Perhaps the A380 delay compensation might be in the form of a BIG DISCOUNT on their A330 order...

STN is a very popular route and it is usually full. Last night I managed to get something around RM 1500+ but this morning, cheapest is RM 1700+. Some June dates are no longer available - full!

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has ordered up to 55 B737-800s and 25 A330-300s, with a total of three B737-800s to be received in 2010, comprising one each in October, November and December. "We have also completed our discussions with Airbus and will be taking the six A380s. The first will be delivered in April 2012," he said. Tengku Azmil said MASkargo will also increase its fleet size from five to seven by September to cope with the surge in air freight demand. The additional aircraft will allow MASkargo to offer new twice weekly services into New York via Amsterdam beginning the second week of September, he said. To support MASkargo's expansion plans, the first two A330-200F will be received in September and November 2011. "Discussions are also underway to get the other two freighters delivered by the first half of 2012," he said, adding that MASkargo had earlier placed a firm order for two A380-200F with option for another two. As for Firefly, Tengku Azmil said: "We are ordering three additional ATRs. Currently, FIrefly has seven ATRs. The three ATRs will be delivered by end of this year." On compensation for the delayed A380s, he said: "I would still prefer to get the aircraft rather than the compensation. The cost of delay is higher than the compensation." Malaysia Airlines has chosen four financial institutions to finance its 14 B737-800 aircraft which will be received from 2010 to 2011. Tengku Azmil said the airline was currently in final discussion with few potential lenders for its A330 aircraft which will be delivered from 2011 to 2012. The airline expects between RM60 million and RM100 million in annual revenue contribution from the move to make the Kota Kinabalu International Airport a second hub. Its managing director and chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Azmil Zahruddin said the geographical location of Kota Kinabalu made it a natural gateway to Borneo for traffic from China, Taiwan, North Asia, Indonesia and Autralia. "There is room for growth. The airport is capable of handling 12 million passengers annually," he told reporters announcing the airline''s second-quarter financial results here today. He said that new routes will be added from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in order to match capacity and demand for better economics. Tengku Azmil said there will be more opportunities to increase yield as Malaysia Airlines started to receive new planes. -- Bernama Their Q2 results will be released on Wednesday. Tony Fernandes' Tweet:

It is good to see MAS Kargo having some sort of strategy. Additional heavy lift is now supplied by more leased planes and it will be easier to adjust capacity when demand fluctuates. This reduces the risk of having their own big B742/744 cargo aircraft parked and/or in storage. The medium lift A332Fs are their own planes and are likely to be workhorses for their Asian services.

.pdf"]QUARTERLY REPORT ON THE SECOND QUARTER ENDED 30 JUNE 2010 [PDF file]

At least one person has died after a Boeing 737-700 operated by Colombian carrier Aires crashed on landing at the Caribbean island of San Andres after a flight from Bogota. Colombian civil aviation authority Aerocivil confirms the accident, saying that the 737-700, registered HK-4682, with Aires flight number 8250 had departed from Bogota around midnight local time and crashed at its destination airport at 01:49. It was transporting 121 passengers and six crew members. A local air force official says that there is one fatality and 34 people have been hospitalised while another 70 have received local treatment for lighter injuries. He also says that there was a thunderstorm close to the airport at the time of the accident. The aircraft has apparently broken up although no further details are currently available. The airport of San Andres is closed to commercial traffic as a result. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/16/346191/aires-737-700-crashes-on-landing-in-san-andres.html

Well, there is talk that re-engining for even better fuel burn is a possibility. See General Electric is floating the idea of offering the GEnx to power future derivatives of the A330, including the -200F freighter and tanker variants.

Farnborough: GEnx offered for future A330s General Electric is floating the idea of offering the GEnx to power future derivatives of the A330, including the -200F freighter and tanker variants. GE was well into the design of the GEnx-72A1 variant for the similarly sized A350-800/900 when the programme was revised in favour of the larger, wider A350 XWB. GEnx programme manager Tom Brisken says: "If they want to use it in the A330 for the freighter or tanker it's a great engine. It is still available to them." GE says the study is "very preliminary". Brisken adds: "There's no intent for Airbus to do that, but it does offer significant advantages, and if 13% fuel burn means anything to the customers, I'm sure there could be interest." Dr Kiran Rao, Airbus executive vice-president marketing and contracts customer affairs, says that although the A330 is "a very economical and popular aircraft with airlines" the GE offer could be of interest. "If someone wants to offer further improvements in terms of fuel consumption or other factors it is our duty to look at it," he says. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/07/25/208087/farnborough-genx-offered-for-future-a330s.html

WILL Emirates swoop in ahead of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to be the first airline to land the A380 superjumbo at the KL International Airport in a commercial flight? Emirates is giving much thought to this possibility and given the good growth it is experiencing, this may well happen. But it is likely that we will have to wait until next year to find out. The Dubai-based carrier already has eleven A380s in service, which it uses for several hot destinations such as London and Sydney. By 2020, it should have built up a fleet that includes 90 A380s and 132 B777s. MAS has ordered six A380s. However, this has been delayed several times. The ball is now in MAS’ court as to whether it wants to pick up the aircraft or just cancel the order. The earliest it is likely to get an A380, if it decides to go ahead with the purchase, is in 2012. This is why an Emirates A380 may touch down sooner at KLIA than an A380 with MAS livery. The passenger numbers for the Dubai-KL route are on the rise and this has prompted Emirates to consider flying the A380 on this route, possibly by early next year. “It would be sooner than later, but it depends on passenger growth,’’ says Kavin Martinus, Emirates country manager for Malaysia. Emirates began mounting flights into KL from Dubai in October 1990 with three weekly flights. Now it operates three daily flights. It has another flight, the Dubai-KL-Melbourne route, which uses KL as a transit stop. Martinus says the response has been good and the airline now uses the B777 for the route. Last year, about 718,000 Middle Eastern tourists arrived at KLIA. Of these, about one tenth flew on Emirates. “With the additional flight (the transit flight), we expect to carry about 100,000 passengers this year with air passenger traffic volume on the increase,’’ Martinus says. He adds that it is not just the sandy beaches and the shopping in Malaysia that appeal to the Middle Eastern tourists; they also see Malaysia as a destination that offers value for money. The political tension in Bangkok has also diverted some traffic into Malaysia and Martinus believes there is a lot more untapped potential, especially in Sabah and Sarawak. If promoted properly, he says, there is room for further growth in tourist arrivals from the Middle East. Air passenger traffic has picked up since late last year and according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the traffic statistics for June 2010 showed passenger demand up 11.9% from a year ago. Load factors are in line with historical highs of 79.8% for passenger traffic. According to IATA’s world air transport statistics, Emirates ranked top in in 2009 in terms of international revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), with 118,284 million RPK ahead of Lufthansa’s 118,264 million. “Revenue-wise, we are achieving our targets today and we are contributing to the network,’’ says Martinus, who declines to reveal the numbers. The Emirates Group reported revenue of 45.4 billion Dubai dinars at the end of its last financial year ended March 2010. The carrier flies to 59 destinations and “we are in the top half in terms of revenue generation and importance”, says Martinus. “KL as a point of sale is a revenue generator and it has grown over the years. From the time we started, the revenues have grown more than ten-fold.” The number of seats available now has jumped from 750 in a week to 1,110 in a day, and the airline has changed the aircraft type from A310 to B777. Of the 71,800 passengers that flew on Emirates last year, 75% came from other parts of the Emirates network and the rest were Malaysians. More than 10% travelled on Emirates to go beyond Dubai. Most of them went to Europe. Emirates’ business and first class fares are actually 15%-20% higher than its competition. But the two classes are popular with travellers. Martinus says Emirates averages 70% load for the Dubai-KL-Dubai route. The challenge for Emirates is to deal with competition and the economic changes in its markets. Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/14/business/6850187&sec=business

Good to hear that the problem has been solved. Now you can enjoy your trip!

Malaysia Airports is pleased to announce the passenger, cargo and aircraft movements at airports operated by Malaysia Airports Group for the month of June 2010, Second Quarter 2010 and Half Year 2010, respectively, as attached therewith. June 2010 Statistics Second Quarter 2010 & First Half 2010 Statistics

Not quite Facebook, but this is from Tony Fernandes' Blog:

Thanks for posting the data Azizul. You are our undisputed statistician! At the rate that things are going at the LCCT, it would be a rather overcrowded travelling experience next year as it will be operating beyond its designed capacity. So during peak hours, it would resemble a refugee camp. I last travelled via LCCT in June and check in hall was really overcrowded and queues (even for baggage drop) can be extremely long!

Reyneo, Agree with Azizul. If it concerns D7, then write to Azran. He will get the investigation done and will keep you posted. He takes action and does not hide behind a PR web. That much I know. Sorry to hear about your problem and I hope it is resolved to your satisfaction.

Etihad Airways this month announced plans to introduce its first "all economy" class aircraft to its fleet in Oct-2010. This carrier will be the only non-LCC in the Middle East operating such a configuration, although the product bears some similarity to to the ‘Gulf Traveller’ product that CEO, James Hogan, introduced while heading Gulf Air. The purpose is mainly to tap into the high volume but low yielding markets more effectively. This segment is being addressed aggressively by neighbouring flydubai, based in Dubai and, a few kilometres further along the road in the UAE, the highly successful Sharjah-based Air Arabia. Other low cost airlines from outside the UAE are also targeting the UAE markets. Full service airlines around the world have long struggled with the decision whether to adopt a LCC subsidiary or to segment their operation in this way. In each case different considerations apply. Etihad, in treading the middle path, may have got it right in this market. 162-seat A320s to be utilised; to be one for the highest-density A320 configuration in the Middle East Etihad’s two A320s will be configured with 162 economy-class seats (with 32-inch pitch), an increase of 42 from the current economy capacity, meaning it will operate one of the highest-density A320 configurations in the region (with only a few seats fewer than LCC, Jazeera’s, A320 configuration, five seats fewer than nasair’s all-economy configuration, and the same number of seats as Bahrain Air's two-class A320 configuration). The all-economy Etihad aircraft will operate to short-haul destinations which have high demand for economy traffic and low demand for premium traffic. Initially these will be Alexandria, Calicut, Colombo, Damascus, Doha and Thiruvananthapuram. Plans are in place to expand the all-economy fleet to ten A320 aircraft, with the carrier stating this would enable the carrier to “launch new short haul destinations which have low demand for premium travel and also to existing Etihad destinations”. Etihad is currently only the tenth largest carrier operating between the Middle East and India, so this all economy product is likely to form part of the carrier’s efforts to build its presence in this market. Full report: http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2010/08/11/etihad-airways-to-introduce-all-economy-services/page1

Contaminated fuel prime suspect in Cathay A330 throttle-jam Fuel contamination, causing the seizure of engine valves, has been identified as the prime suspect after a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 suffered a double powerplant malfunction on approach to Hong Kong four months ago. The aircraft, operating flight CX780, landed at high speed on 13 April after its left-hand Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engine jammed at a high thrust setting while the right-hand engine remained at low thrust. No evidence has emerged of spurious command signals from the engine controls. But investigators discovered fine spherical particles - the nature of which is still being determined - inside the fuel tanks, fuel system and several engine components, including the fuel metering units and stator vane controls. Examination of the engine fuel components showed that both engines' main metering valves had jammed in positions consistent with the thrust levels experienced on the approach. "The abnormal engines performance during the flight was believed to have been caused by stiction, and eventual seizure, of the [valves]," says the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department. It states that the spherical particles could not have been generated by the aircraft or its engine systems. While the inquiry has yet to reach any conclusions, suspicion has fallen on the uplifting of 24.4t of fuel to the A330 while it was parked at Surabaya's Juanda International Airport. The hydrant refuelling circuit serving 10 stands at the airport had undergone extension work as part of an apron extension project. "Subsequent investigation at [Juanda Airport] noted that some of the re-commissioning procedures of that hydrant extension work were not in line with the guidelines and practices commonly used by the aviation fuel industry," says the Civil Aviation Department. It adds that the refuelling system for several stands, including that used by the A330, was used before these re-commissioning procedures were completed. After the CX780 landing incident the refuelling circuit was isolated. Although the inquiry is continuing, the Civil Aviation Department is recommending that Juanda Airport's authorities review the procedures and ensure they are completed before the refuelling system is brought back into operation. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/11/346045/contaminated-fuel-prime-suspect-in-cathay-a330-throttle-jam.html

Thai Airways International has finalised a firm order with Airbus for the purchase of seven Airbus A330-300s, following a memorandum of understanding signed at last month's Farnborough Air Show. Deliveries of the new aircraft will start from end-2011, says Airbus. "Thai has ordered the additional A330-300 aircraft to meet our medium haul requirement and enable us to continue to operate one of the most modern and efficient fleets in the region," says the airline's president Piyasvasti Amranand. "Our fleet strategy aims to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by matching aircraft size to market demand, while working on fleet simplification in the long-term. The popular A330 remains an important part of that strategy." Thai has said it plans to use the new aircraft to replace its A300-600s. It already operates 20 A330-300s. "This latest order from Thai is another vote of confidence in the proven efficiency, low operating costs and wide passenger appeal of the A330," says Airbus' chief operating officer John Leahy. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/11/346010/thai-firms-up-order-for-seven-a330s.html

MASKargo also have their B742F/B744F for very high demand cargo routes. And next year, they should also have the A332F cargo carrier. So they have lots of flexibility for their cargo ops.

We must not forget that although some routes may be thinner for pax, cargo demand may be high. That is why MH can still make those routes work - because total payload still makes sense for using the aircraft that they are using.

MH has said in the past that it intends to simplyfy the fleet to 3 aircraft types. So their next widebody order will have to replace the B744, B772 and A333. I think that the B787 family might be a bit too small for their needs. The A350 family looks more promising but that will mean that some of the current B744 routes will have to be upgraded to A380 and others will be downgraded (capacity wise) to the A350. MH might decide to get some A350-900s and some A350-1000s for the job. Decision is expected at the end of the year. However, with GLCs, these "deadlines" are immensely flexible!

No, because the minute you select the more expensive fares on the booking page, the A380 flights become available for booking.