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The suspension of AUH so soon after its introduction has caused a lot of bad feeling amongst those who have booked on those flights. If D7 wants to regain some goodwill, it will have to offer some compensation - perhaps free flights when AUH services resume to those who have booked on the cancelled flights.

I suspect that the upper deck is not needed for the 747-8F - so maybe the upper deck only has the crew rest area. I note that pix of the 747-8I show a full upper deck all the way to the wing.

Singapore Airlines delays A380 deliveries (AFP) – Sep 3, 2009

If the A380 was doing so great with SQ, why did they also defer their deliveries of their new aircraft? I suspect that cash flows have weakened and the ability to finance the giant whalejet is somewhat difficult. They want to buy some time so that their debt repayments will not be so stressful once business picks up again later.

MAHB charges are reflected in the airport tax. I am not aware that MAHB charges separately for luggage handling. If that is the case, why doesn't AK/D7 just list them as MAHB charges? That way, no one will question them.

AirAsia is never cheap if you make your travel arrangements the old fashioned way, i.e. decide on your destination and travel dates first before checking the fares. They are almost certainly more expensive if you make last minute bookings, unless you are travelling on high frequency routes like KUL-SIN. You can only get very cheap tickets when AirAsia allows you to - i.e. during their zero fare deals. This is when booking period and travel period is severely restricting your choice of travel dates. So to actually be able to snap up cheap tickets, you have to be aware of when the promos available, and book as soon as the booking period starts. This is where the kwai lohs are very good - the Aussies and Brits seem to be able to get the cheap tickets because they are aware of the T&C and they also are early birds, often booking once the sale opens at midnight of the first day of the booking period and also booking their flights 10 or more months in advance. My next AK flights (to MFM and from HKG in April) will cost me less than RM 170 total. But I had to book them in May last year. Similarly, my TPE flights on D7 this June were booked in July last year - RM 330 return all in. So it is true that you can get cheap flights on AK and D7. But the "no frills" and restrictions begin even before you book! So not everyone is able to accept AK/D7's T&C. But the good thing is that we have a choice now and not be held to ransom by full fare carriers like in the old days.

However, the Tianjin service was suspended. So it does not mean instant success all the time - so it is essential that sufficient market research is conducted before introducing a route. Otherwise, people will say that they are "unreliable". That is not a good reputation to carry! I think the truth is somewhere in between - it is true that the economics will be difficult for D7 if it carries only 270+ pax per flight. That is why the seating capacity has been increased to around 300 after the seats are changed. AUH will probably do OK if the flight carries on to a second destination in Europe, e.g. Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt.

Yes, it is not easy to pioneer a business model but they always said that if you don't try, you won't know if it will succeed or fail. Here is a report from The Star:

So what is the "right aircraft" for D7 - I don't think the tightly packed A333 is something I want to fly on for more than 8 hours! So, should they look at the A346, B772/773, B744 to lease? I think that the A346 may be feasible for the STN route as they have enough pax wanting to fly there and back. That aircraft should improve the economics. With Boeings, they need to recruit new pilots or recertify their existing crew.

Yes, it is a very steep rise - from RM 5 to RM 20 in one year. Travellers will now have to be more careful with their luggage, e.g. if two of you travel, it may be more economic to buy one lot of prepaid luggage and use a single checked in bag.

Those massive engine exhaust nozzles - I wonder how this plane can be a stealth aircraft...

This is the first A330-200F, the second one (fitted with the RR engines) only had its first flight recently. See First Trent-powered A330 freighter starts flight tests

Yes, Aussie $ was around RM 2.40 when I was there last year but this year it has rebounded back to over RM 3.05 again. So total cost of trip won't be cheap.

If it was me, I will opt for a later AK flight. This kind of schedule does not give any allowance for flight delay at all. So if his flight lands late, he will 100% miss the connection. Opting for a later AK flight means less stress!

AUH was started up prematurely - probably a knee jerk reaction to the slow pace of LCCT construction and the failure to win approval for the Sydney, Japanese and Korean routes. Now they have the numbers from the added Aussie frequencies, they are probably less panicky and will look at AUH again once all the planes have been refitted with the better seats. Perhaps, AUH will be relaunched together with the Paris route as well as additional London Stanstead frequencies. I think that D7 should have known that they cannot launch a LCC route unless there are lots of LCC connections at the destination.

Well SQ is feeling the heat and has passed on half the slots to MI. CX seems to be doing well and you can see aircraft being frequently upgraded to 744s instead of the smaller planes that usually ply the KUL-HKG sector. Yes, I wonder too - so many Euro carriers have disappeared from KUL! I think the last one to terminate their flights was BA.

Well many airlines are not in good financial shape. So they will only fly to destinations where it makes a good profit. So if KUL cannot deliver, they won't come. I remember when I took my first long haul flight out of Subang in the 1970s I chose Qantas. They are now nowhere to be seen at KUL but have chosen nearby SIN as their Asian hub. Other than AK, many airlines are just doing a PR and diplomatic exercise when operating flights to KUL. So even if new airlines start flights now, they might suspend it later. Economics rule in the airline industry, not ego and pride.

If you want to nitpick - "soon" can mean next week, next month or in the distant future. Let me quote my D7 source directly, then - you can interpret it how you like! It is just as vague with regards to timing.

Yes, anything can happen in future - however, there are no current plans to base A333's in BKI. This is from a reliable D7 source, not MASWings pilot!

Yes, only 12 seats on the A333 and 18 on the A343. This was what Azran said:

Well they have two new destinations in India. Between now and June, they will be one aircraft short as all their planes are going in for seat reconfiguration. But I think AUH is definitely suspended - you can't book flights after 8 Feb 2010.

I agree, MH always pours cold water over D7/AK but seldom improve themselves to compete. But D7 has hurt MH badly on the KUL-MEL route and EK is probably going to chip away even more market share from MH from 1 Feb. Meanwhile D7 is deploying 9M-XXE on this sector, with its new lie flat beds (18 of them) and improved seats in the cattle class. The Aussies will love them!

I was told that 9M-XXE will be put into service today and will be used mostly on the MEL service, no doubt to counter the entry of EK on this sector. Also there are no plans to put A333s in BKI.

I don't think so, according to the Boeing website, the MD-83's max range is 2,504 nautical miles (4,635 km) - not sure if this range is at MTOW. This plane should be quite light since it is a VIP plane, so it might have longer range. I think that they might need 2 tech stops - maybe one in Indonesia and another in Australia's east coast. Very nice shots of a rare aircraft and livery!

Wah that is news to us! But really, D7 has no choice as parking lots in LCCT are so limited. But where will the A333's from BKI fly to?