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It is now confirmed that the A343 will serve TSN to free up the A333 for TPE. Makes a lot of sense since TSN is a longer flight compared to PER and the timing is OK too.

That is why they had to create three arrival and three departure Halls - domestic (Sabah/Sarawak), domestic (penisular malaysia) and international...

This looks like a code share flight with Etihad... But for an inaugural flight to be empty is not good!

Well, I don't think your client knows what a close knit fraternity aviation enthusiasts are. The friendship extends to people from all over the world! Yes, he should be invited to look at the the pix collection that we have here!

Boeing is probably more dependent on US airlines for their business. Right now, US airlines are in bad shape and the healthier ones have already placed their orders. Boeing aircraft is also traditionally more costly - so in times of recession, the cheaper alternatives (Airbus) should be getting more orders.

Well the A333's have the Trent 700 engines and the A359's will have Trent XWB engines although I am not sure how much parts commonality there will be. It is a well known fact that the A343 is not the most economical plane to fly nowadays, so any cost savings that can be derived from having the same engine family as their existing A320s should be an advantage. Compared to the RR Trent 500 (which is on the A346), economies of scale with the CFM56 engine family should be a lot better since AK has so many of them.

Yes, we love building white elephants for political reasons. Does anyone know how many B747s fly to the Kuala Terengganu airport? Kuching should perhaps twin with them!

Yes, I remember the QR CEO bashing the "poor performance" of the A346 and that they would get rid of them ASAP! But I doubt that D7 is considering this aircraft as it has RR engines on it. Perhaps, one of the reasons why the A343 was chosen by D7 was that is has CFM56 engines. I think that these may have some spare parts that are common with AK's A320's engines, thus benefitting from its economies of scale.

Well SQ has ordered 20 of these too, but I dun think they will be using it for the KUL-SIN route!

737's are lower - so the lifting effort required is less than that of Jetstar's A320. There is some discussion on this topic here: http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index....showtopic=12126

With a range of over 15,000 kms, the A350's will replace D7's current fleet of A340's on the long haul routes and can also be deployed on shorter routes where capacity greater than the A330-300's is needed. A very good buy for D7 indeed!

AirAsia X has ordered 10 Airbus A350-900 aircraft and placed options on five more. The Malaysian low-cost long-haul carrier disclosed the agreement at the Paris Air Show today. First deliveries of the aircraft are due to take place in the first quarter of 2016. AirAsia X had been weighing up the A350 against the Boeing 787 but earlier this month indicated it had settled on the Airbus twin-jet. A350s are currently available only with the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...o-15-a350s.html AirAsia X, the long haul low cost affiliate of Malaysia's AirAsia Group, has placed a firm order with Airbus for 10 A350 XWB aircraft. The airline will use the aircraft on a network linking its Asian hub in Kuala Lumpur with destinations worldwide, especially in Europe and Australia. AirAsia X has selected the A350-900 variant for its fleet, which will be configured to seat more than 400 passengers in a two-class layout. “Business is all about timing and long-term strategy," said Tony Fernandes, Director and Founder of AirAsia X. "At AirAsia we have always planned for the long-term. By buying the A350 XWB the strategy of AirAsia and AirAsia X is now fixed all the way to 2020. The vision of creating the world’s first long haul and short haul low-cost airline is complete and we are all very excited." “We selected the A350 XWB for the step-change it offers in terms of operating economics and its exceptional passenger appeal," said Azran Osman Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X. "With the A350 XWB in our fleet we will be able to set new standards in the low cost long haul market, making it possible for more people to fly further in comfort at ever more affordable prices." “We are extremely pleased to add AirAsia X to the customer base of the A350 XWB," said Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders. “Offering a 25 per cent reduction in fuel burn, the all-new A350 XWB will shape new levels of efficiency in the mid-size widebody category and will enable AirAsia X to benefit from the lowest possible operating costs per seat of any aircraft in its class." The A350 XWB Family is Airbus’ response to widespread market demand for a series of highly efficient medium-capacity long-range wide-body aircraft. With a range of up to 8,300 nm / 15,400 km, it is available in three basic passenger versions. The A350 has the widest fuselage in its category, offering unprecedented levels of comfort, the lowest operating costs and lowest seat mile cost of any aircraft in this market segment. Powered by two new generation Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines, the A350 XWB Family is designed to confront the challenges of high fuel prices, rising passenger expectations, and environmental concerns. Firm orders for the A350 XWB now stand at 493 from 31 customers worldwide. Source: http://www.airbus.com/events/bourget2009/n...e-a350-xwb.html

Well AirAsia's progress will be stunted because some people do not want it to overshadow the national carrier, much the same way as our national car maker Proton is protected from competition. In the long term this policy will harm BOTH MAS and AirAsia - the govt. is short sighted in not able to appreciate this. In the end the country will suffer from the poor govt. decisions.

The only MH route where the A380 will be a success is the KUL-LHR route. This should be the first route that MH launches on the A380.

I have just checked the Tianjin flight schedules at the AirAsia website and there is indeed a change to the timetable w.e.f. 1 July 2009. TSN is a 6+ hour flight, slightly longer than the PER sector. So it is a better candidate for A343 deployment. D7's next new A333 deliveries are Sept, Oct and Dec this year. I doubt D7 will be able to get hold of any A346's as none are really available. Most of the A340 family aircraft family are flying and working hard. Maybe AC might retire some of their other A343's when they get more T7's delivered.

True, provided the plane is full. If the PER route is not filling the A333's then it may be better to deploy them on more popular routes. The A343 can then be used for the PER route since its capacity is a good deal lower than the A333's. Its like SQ matching demand with supply - they are now using the A380 for their HKG route. They must be confident of filling the plane up for this 3½ hour flight even though the A380 can fly many times longer than that...

Good work guys! Your client must be very happy! Thanks for sharing!

Your complete guide to the aircraft, technologies and themes at Le Bourget this year: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...-this-year.html

Frankly I have a dim view of the so called "analysts". Last year, they criticised AirAsia for not hedging fuel and marked down their share price because of that. Being a publicly listed company, they had to kow tow to the analysts. AirAsia then started to hedge fuel in the second half of the year, when fuel prices peaked. That was why they were badly hit. Malaysia Airlines hedged fuel right from the beginning and they hedged a higher proportion of it too, hence the big big loss. Looks like the oil speculators are the biggest gainers - and they only trade pieces of paper in the comfort of their plush offices...

I think that D7 may wish to operate some PER flights on the A340 so that it can free up the higher capacity A333 for its more popular routes. Since we did see them doing test runs before the STN services launched, those might have been evaluation flights to determine the A340's performance envelope for that route. Flights to and from PEN merely used to assess what it takes to do quick turnaround for this big jet...

MH would be foolish to watch what D7 is doing and letting it affect its own decisions. For D7, it is quite an easy decision to go for the A350 as it currently only operates the A330/A340 family. The A350 will replace both types and for a LCC that is a big advantage in terms of fleet management. Note that AK is also settled on one aircraft type only, the A320. MH's wide body decision is more complex as it has a variety of aircraft that needs replacement. That is why the MH management is taking their own sweet time to arrive at a decision.

The F/A-18 will only be useful to the Navy if it has an aircraft carrier. Malaysia does not have any carriers - so why would it want the F/A-18 for?

The A350 is actually the next generation A330/340. It has the range to do the KUL-STN route and beyond plus it carries the same number of pax as the current A330/340 planes that are in D7's fleet. So whichever variant is chosen will depend on the capacity that D7 desires. Note that D7 also carries cargo on the STN flights to help the flights make economic sense. As such, they might also have evaluated what cargo they can carry with the A350.

9M-XAC has arrived at LCCT, so the daily flights to STN looks to be on schedule.

Its all about money isn't it? Russian spare parts have always been scarce - I dare say all the customers of Russian made military equipment have experienced the lack of spare parts. That is why countries like India set up their own manufacturing capability. But it is not economic to do the same in Malaysia because we have so few aircraft. It is not economically viable. Historically we get better after sales service from the British and American defence contractors. We are a third world country - so don't expect the US/UK to give us their top of the range weaponry and avionics! If the people of Malaysia don't trust the BN govt. how can we expect foreigners to trust them?