flee

Display teams usually take off two by two and land in line, one behind the other - like on aircraft carriers. Normal civil aviation rules are not observed by military aircraft, especially jet fighters! Yes, this is a normal USAF and US Navy practice. The Thunderbirds squadron is not just a display one - if need be, they also have to serve in combat during wartime. So they follow normal USAF procedures.

Well it only takes about 15 mins from Kuantan... So the SU-30s are also coming over early to join their USAF counterparts... Which end of the runway is your house?

Kazakhstan's national carrier Air Astana is launching a weekly service from the nation's largest city Almaty to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The once-weekly service starts on 31 October and Air Astana will operate a Boeing 767 on the route. Passengers needing to return earlier can go via Bangkok using fates through Astana and its partner airlines, says the carrier. Kuala Lumpur is the airline's sixth international destination in Asia after Bangkok, Beijing, New Delhi, Seoul and Urumqi. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/09/30/332897/air-astana-launching-almaty-kuala-lumpur-service.html

I think if it takes 8 hours, they shud be arriving at 4 pm. The cargo planes may have left earlier and the tankers will probably arrive together with the F-16s. They need to fly together as the F-16s will need to refuel along the way.

MH is in a dilemna more about its wide body fleet. This is because decisions that should have been taken 4 or 5 years ago were not taken. As a result, there is a desperate need to replace their ageing A333's and B744's. The 772's are still capable of providing at least another 5 years' service, though. MH should probably lease some A333's and 773ER's now to replace (short term) the ageing A333s and B744's. They should also buy the A350 as the permanent replacement for all their old wide bodies. The A380 should become the flagship product while the A350 should be their workhorse. Yes, it is about time MH comes up with its own marketing ideas instead of just copying AK and D7. They are a 5-star airline and they should behave like one. They should be more focussed on their own product development rather than mimicking competitors.

If they arrive earlier, i.e. before 19:00 there might be shooting opportunities...

By the time MH receives its A380s (2011, if I remember correctly), flying on the A380 won't be such a novelty.

Yes, the D7 STN services are now very popular and they have already stated that the plan is to go double daily to allow people to get around the unsocial flight times, especially those who need to connect to other flights. If MH decides to keep the A380 orders intact, they may need to find some innovative routes or marketing methods to fill the planes.

OK, looks like they have made a U-turn! I remember Tony Fernandes saying that they cannot launch more services to India because the AK fleet is not certified for ETOPS and to modify the planes would be costly. I wonder why they modified AFB and AFC instead of requesting Airbus to add ETOPS to their new deliveries? Is it cheaper to have the mods done at local MRO's?

My apologies Pieter! A moderator's job is never easy!

Maybe some of the blame can be put on AK/D7... They have taken away the volume pax and other airlines might find it hard to compete!

Yes, I think one engine failing is not a big problem. I suppose getting back to Paris, it is easier to fix the plane (as Airbus HQ is in France) and also to accommodate the pax in hotels.

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) A380 was forced to turn round mid-flight and head back to Paris on Sunday after one of its four engines failed, the head of the airline's French operations said. The doubledecker A380 took off from Paris at 12.30 p.m. (1030 GMT) with 444 passengers aboard and headed for Singapore, but had to turn round after 2 hours 45 minutes because of the engine problem, airline director Jerry Seah said. The plane landed safely back in France at 5.45 p.m. (1545 GMT) and the passengers were sent to hotels as the airline tried to lay on an alternative flight for them. Seah told Reuters he believed it was the first time the plane had suffered such a problem since it had started operating the Singapore-Paris route earlier this year. The giant jet, built by Airbus (EAD.PA), is designed to continue flying with only three engines, but came back to Paris as a safety precaution. The engines on the Singapore A380s are built by Britain's Rolls Royce Group (RR.L). (Reporting by Jean Baptiste Vey, writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Elizabeth Fullerton) Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLR12794520090928

I thought that AK is not attempting to do ETOPS with the A322 as it is too expensive. Those routes will be D7's - anything over 4 hours flying time is given to D7 (e.g. Taipei). I think Trichy is doing very well, that is why they have it twice daily now.

By the time MH receives its A380, it will no longer be a novelty. So cabin configuration needs to be well thought out, if yields are to be acceptable. Maybe that is why they are having second thoughts, the recession has shown that they cannot put too many premium seats in the plane. However, too many cattle class seats may mean MH having to work very hard to get a good load factor.

The A380 order was made before the 738 order, so Penerbangan Malaysia was the owner as MAS was still financially weak then. For the 738 order (which was made only last year), MAS will be owning them but their current 738's, MLA-MLC are also leased. I think most airlines are waiting for more improvements on the 777 (at least 15-20% better fuel burn), before they will seriously consider ordering that plane. Most prefer all new designs like the 787 and A350XWB because they promise to be extremely economical. Many airlines do not like to be caught in the same trap as those who ordered the A345 and A346, only to see a new design (777) improve operating efficiencies by a huge margin...

MH will be leasing them from Penerbangan Malaysia - MH does not currently own its aircraft. This was due to the bailout some years ago.

This report again shows how some financial analysts do not understand airline operations. I suspect that MH does have some requirement for new A333s to replace its ageing fleet. The A350s are good replacements for the 772's and 744's but they won't come online so soon. The A380's are probably only going to give good yields for the LHR route currently. Perhaps MH might be considering reducing the A380 order by one or two aircraft - but that would reduce its flexibility to operate other routes in future should air travel pick up again. Airlines buy and use aircraft over a long period of time, and once the recession is over the economics will change again. It would be a mistake for MH to make hasty decisions now but they have to consider all angles. I am sure MH will also be looking at the Boeing offerings before coming to a decision.

Err how much fuel can it carry if it has 262 seats? Don't tell me they are just carrying the fuel in the cargo holds?

MAS is quite different from AirAsia. When it went bankrupt a few years ago, it got the govt. to pay for something that it already owns - the planes. In other words, it got bailed out. If AirAsia collapses, it will just disappear and the shareholders will have to bear the losses. As such, MAS management always know that the govt. will not allow it to sink. So it can take reckless management decisions and still don't have to pay the consequences.

Great shots of the different traffic that you receive over there in Vietnam! Well done.

This is possibly one of the routes that could be flown via the Abu Dhabi virtual hub. But I think that it will only happen after D7 receives its next batch of A333's in 2010.

Unfortunately, those in charge of HR departments do not know what he did. He will be an asset to any airline, particularly as an instructor!

This is its pre-delivery test reggo. A-318's are assembled in Germany, so carry German test reggos. Its definitive reggo is G-EUNA. Please see pix above, where it is actually at LCY doing test flights from LCY.

In the dark days of MAS' loss making history, it sold ALL its aircraft and leased them back. A government company called Pernerbangan Malaysia owned all the planes. So this is an often used finance tool.