flee

Yes, checked last night and the return fare (no luggage or meals) is around RM 1,300+ if you can get RM 499 in both directions.

1. Existing airlines may hold landing rights that MAS does not have. So it can be advantageous to have these rights. 2. The modern day A333s like those SQ are flying feature RR's latest Trent engines - lots of improvements have been made since the 1990's vintage GE and P&W engines were introduced. Avionics and other electronic systems have also improved leaps and bounds. Some airlines have also specified the same (updated/upgraded) avionics as the A346 and A345 for their A333s.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways, which is cutting capacity dramatically, is in negotiations with Airbus and Boeing to delay delivery of A330, 777-300ER, 747-8 freighter and 747-400ER freighter aircraft on order. Cathay says in a statement it is “in negotiations with manufacturers to defer deliveries of new aircraft and looking into whether to renew aircraft leases that expire”. Full report here: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...t-on-order.html

Frankly, despite what Air Asia advertises, I still would not want to subject my aged father to an Air Asia flight. The LCCT is not the place for elderly and handicapped traveller. I don't mind "suffering" if I save RMs on the flights but it is my choice and would not force it onto anyone else. Each of us should think carefully about flying on Air Asia if we have special requirements. We need to make some rational decisions - some savings are just not worth having!

I think that there is only one MH route that would welcome the A380 and that is the KUL-LHR one. Other routes do not require the huge capacity. MH certainly would not mind taking over the delivery slots of the Qantas B738, if they are for this year. But much depends on Boeing too and whether other airlines are ahead of MH in the queues.

Qantas Airways will defer the delivery of Airbus A380 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft, slash capacity, and cut jobs in response to worsening economic conditions, which have forced the Australian airline to cut its profit forecast drastically for the current fiscal year. The Oneworld alliance carrier says that it will defer the delivery of four A380s by 10-12 months and 12 737-800s for an average of 14 months, and is in talks with Boeing to reduce the delivery of 787-8 aircraft over the near term. In addition, it will ground 10 aircraft and make them available for sale. It is also cutting flying capacity for domestic and international routes by 5% and reducing freight capacity on both as well. More here: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...conditions.html

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab SINGAPORE, April 14 (Bernama) -- Singapore and Malaysia today agreed to expand their bilateral air services agreement to include six more new destinations in Malaysia. They are Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Melaka, Sandakan and Tawau. Both countries also agreed to provide increased traffic rights to existing cities, namely Penang, Langkawi, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. All the new traffic rights will take effect from June 1, according to Singapore Transport Ministry in a statement today. The ministry said transport officials from the city-state and Malaysia met here today for air services consultations and agreed to expand the bilateral air services agreement between the two neighbours. The new agreement would allow the carriers of both countries the right to operate between Changi Airport and the six destinations, the ministry said. Singapore carriers will also have traffic rights to operate 21 weekly services to Ipoh and 14 weekly services each to Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Melaka, Sandakan and Tawau. For existing routes, Singapore carriers will have increased traffic rights to operate a total of 70 services a week to Penang and 27 services a week to Langkawi. Additionally, carriers of both countries are also allowed to operate an additional 14 weekly services between Singapore and each of the East Malaysian cities of Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. Transport Ministry Permanent Secretary Choi Shing Kwok, who led the Singapore delegation in the consultations, said the new agreement was important for both countries, as the enhanced connectivity would further boost economic and tourism linkages between the two countries. "This is especially important in the current economic climate," he said. Currently, Singapore carriers operate 106 weekly services to Kuala Lumpur, 18 weekly services to Penang, six weekly services to Langkawi, 17 weekly services to Kota Kinabalu and 16 weekly services to Kuching. -- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=404166

That A345 is probably going to be written off due to extensive damage. I think they are waiting for insurance company verdict.

MAHB's raw stats (Excel file) here: http://announcements.bursamalaysia.com/EDM...bruary%2009.xls

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Bernama) -- The number of passengers at the airports operated by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) fell 9.2 percent to 3.274 million in February 2009 compared to 3.606 million in the same month last year. The number of passengers for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang declined 8.9 percent to 1.901 million from 2.087 million a year ago, MAHB said in an announcement on Bursa Malaysia today. It said that international passengers at the country's main airport dropped 8.4 percent to 1.268 million while domestic passengers fell 9.8 percent to 633,378. For other airports operated by the group, international passengers declined 15.2 percent to 201,797 while domestic passengers went down 8.6 percent to 1,171 million. MAHB said that cargo volume also fell in February 2009, by 20.5 percent to 58.967 million kg from 73.855 million kg in the same month last year. International cargo movements at KLIA dropped 21.6 percent to 38.088 million kg while domestic cargo went down 7.9 percent to 3.744 million kg, it said. Cargo movements at the other airports declined 20.6 percent to 16.864 kg, with international cargo down 38.2 percent to 9.096 million kg but domestic cargo rose 19.2 percent to 7.768 million kg. Aircraft movements went down 0.4 percent to 38,714 movements in February 2009, MAHB said. It added that aircraft movements at KLIA rose 1.4 percent to 16,482 but those at other airports declined 1.6 percent to 22,232. -- BERNAMA

Yes, I do think what happened at LCCT is totally AirAsia's fault. But AirAsia has less control over what happened at VTE. Travelling to third world destinations can always be a problem. Still AirAsia is responsible for its pax and this case is a good example of not handling a pax correctly. My brother took the D7 STN-KUL flight recently and his daughter had a severe nut allergy, thus necessitating them to bring their own food as they knew D7 could not meet with their special diet. The cabin crew did not understand the implications of that allergy and chastised him for bringing his own food! Although AirAsia was named Low Cost Airline of the Year 2009, there are still many areas where they can improve. As such, we hope that they learn from their mistakes.

All I can say is that it is fortunate that he is in command of a 737. Imagine how many more will be dead had he been in charge of a WB aircraft! Indonesian airlines have been blacklisted by the EU and it is not a good reflection on the Indonesian civil aviation industry. I agree that accidents usually occur following a series of errors and that there is no one specific cause to an air crash. Lets hope the Indonesian authorities can come to some conclusion and take measures to prevent a recurrence of this trajedy.

I would say that AirAsia is not the airline for the old and infirm. Although the ground and cabin crews try their best, their training is inadequate to handle many situations. Their business model also gives very little margin for "time consuming" activities like boarding the disabled. As such, it is best to use legacy airlines.

AirAsia has already stopped its KUA-KUL flights - I don't think there is much traffic into and out of Kuantan these days since the highway is very convenient for most travellers. Not sure if there is any real demand for KUA-SIN either.

The SKYTRAX World Airline Awards celebrated their tenth anniversary with around 500 people attending the 2009 Awards ceremony in Hamburg to see the winning airlines receive their accolades. Edward Plaisted (CEO of Skytrax) handed out awards in 34 categories - the winners being selected by the airline industry's most important audience, it's customers. More than 16 million air travellers drawn from over 95 different nationalities took part in the 8 month long survey. The awards are recognised around the world for being the only true global independent passenger survey of airline standards. The survey does not receive any third party sponsorship and is entirely funded by Skytrax. The Skytrax World Airline Awards recognise the importance of the low cost airline sector, and this was a major part of the passenger survey. AirAsia was named the Worlds Best Low Cost Airline for 2009, ahead of Air Berlin (2nd) and easyJet (3rd). "AirAsia is not only one of the pioneering low cost airlines in Asia, but also the first pure low cost to launch long haul operations (having recently started flying between Malaysia and the UK) and many will be watching this carefully to see if such transformation can be successful" said Plaisted. Malaysia Airlines took the title of Worlds Best Cabin Staff, this being an amazing achievement and represents the 6th time they have secured this top Award in ten years. To have achieved such continuous success is a proud moment for Malaysia Airlines and bears great testament to the hard work of all their front line staff. Malaysia Airlines CEO, Idris Jala, was delighted and proud of his cabin crew, stating that "they have showcased Malaysian hospitality at its best, treating our customers as valued guests in our own home". Full report here: http://www.airlinequality.com/news/030409_CathayPacific.htm

Airbus engineers have applied for a US patent on a wing root fairing technology the company says can reduce the drag penalty that comes from installing larger engines on existing airframes. Speculation has been growing that the company may be considering installing larger diameter Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engines on a new and improved Airbus A320, a move that would require the aircraft to accommodate the GTF's larger diameter fans. Airbus has denied any intent to do so however. More (including drawings) here: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/...ngine-drag.html

Historically airlines have been flag carriers. Even in the land of opportunity, they still had Pan Am carrying their flag. However, new generation airlines are increasingly owned by private entrepreneurs - as such they are neither government owned nor funded. AirAsia is one of these new generation airlines. They are looking to be innovative to gain some competitive advantage. It is not surprising that they want to be the first airline in ASEAN to fly the ASEAN flag!

Melaka airport is in a disadvantageous position. It is too near to KLIA and Senai. If the Melaka CM wants more people to fly to Melaka, he has to offer a better state for people to visit. I was in Melaka in December and frankly, it is not somewhere I would visit frequently! I think other cities in Malaysia have much more to offer!

I find that www.klia.com.my is a terrible website as far as the flight arrivals/departure information is concerned. The website is not updated properly and the information displayed is incomplete. This is made all the more acute when you start perusing other airport websites like Perth, Stansted, Changi, Bangkok or Gold Coast airports. Their information is as live as airport displays. Does anyone know why KLIA is so tardy when it comes to updating their flight information on their website?

Yes, later on in the article, they reported:

SINGAPORE, 31 March 2009 – Banking on the success of its 4 new routes between Indonesia and Singapore, AirAsia is now looking at adding more routes to the island-city in 2009, said its Group CEO Tony Fernandes. Inaugural flights between Singapore and Indonesian cities of Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali took off on 24 March 2009, recording forward bookings of 80,000 so far. AirAsia is the only airline flying the Singapore-Bandung route and is the first low-fare airline to service the Singapore-Yogyakarta sector. AirAsia’s first route between Indonesia and Singapore was from Pekanbaru, which commenced in August last year. Apart from Indonesia, AirAsia currently flies between Singapore and the Malaysian cities of Kuala Lumpur (7 daily flights), Kuching (1) and Kota Kinabalu (1), as well as Bangkok (4) and Phuket (1) in Thailand. These bring AirAsia’s total number of weekly flights to and from Singapore to 140. “Singapore is very special to AirAsia and we consider it a virtual hub. AirAsia’s latest Indonesia-Singapore link forms the final piece of our network jigsaw puzzle as it resembles the importance of the AirAsia network, making it the most powerful in Asia. Currently, we have a combined total of 10 routes connecting Singapore and we are looking at introducing at least 3 more new routes this year. Based on our projections, we will carry a total of 2 million guests to and from Singapore in 2009,” said Fernandes. AirAsia is considering a number of cities to be linked to Singapore and among the destinations in the pipeline are Penang and Langkawi in Malaysia, as well as Medan and Surabaya in Indonesia. AirAsia will also increase the frequencies of some of the existing routes to Singapore this year. “Given the current economic climate, this positive link between these new services is indeed such an encouraging response. Greater connection to both countries would not only boost economic growth by providing better access to markets but also enhance links within travel, trade and tourism. It is also a perfect match as both hubs, Singapore and Indonesia are able to feed traffic to the cities, connect to other points serviced by AirAsia’s extensive routes and international destinations serviced by AirAsia’s long-haul affiliate, AirAsia X via the Kuala Lumpur hub. This initiative will also help the pace of integration between Indonesia and Singapore in particular, and bridge ASEAN closer by enabling intra-Asean travel with AirAsia’s connectivity and route network via our strategic hubs in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand,” added Fernandes. Meanwhile, Mr. Dharmadi, CEO of Indonesia AirAsia commented: “These new routes signify our effort in realizing the open skies policy. Despite the economic uncertainties, Indonesia still recorded the largest number of tourist arrivals to Singapore among Asean countries. This good indication of strong growth will definitely instill integration between Indonesia and Singapore, and to enable intra-Asean travel with AirAsia’s connectivity and route network via our strategic hubs in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.” “Indonesians and Singaporeans share a lot of similarities due to historic linkages and family connections between the 2 countries. With our excellent network, the Indonesian masses will benefit from these new services as Singapore’s Changi Airport is a main gateway which connects to not only other international routes which AirAsia flies to, but also to other parts of the world. Singaporeans on the other hand, will have access to more low-cost alternatives to international routes and additional destinations in not only Indonesia but also the rest of Asean,” concluded Mr. Dharmadi Source: http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/pressRel...c30560-f6fdd8e0

Hehehehe, but it does not count - they are looking for names of their new A333's, 3 this year and 3 next year. Ideally there should be a theme linking these two lots of three names...

Could be this:

BKI is already the hub for East Malaysia and is serving KCH. Besides KCH is also served by KUL, SIN, and other regional hubs - so it is already a virtual hub. Hubs must have sufficient passenger traffic for their routes to justify their existence.

It will be back today and its cabin will have the same seats as XXA and XXB. D7 launches new Tianjin route next week. (2 April).