Mike P

7 May 2011 Last updated at 10:53 GMT Share this pageEmailPrint 858 ShareFacebookTwitter Indonesia: 'No survivors' after plane crashes off Papua There were no survivors from the crash of an Indonesian passenger aircraft into the sea with up to 27 people on board, a navy officer says. The plane went into the sea in poor weather just short of the airstrip serving the small port town of Kaimana, in the eastern province of West Papua. Fifteen bodies have been recovered by rescuers searching for survivors. The Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has one of Asia's worst air safety records. "I can confirm that all the passengers were killed when the plane exploded as it crashed into the sea," the unnamed navy officer, who took part in the search and rescue operation, told ElShinta radio. "The aircraft was smashed to pieces... We found 15 bodies floating on the water and the other passengers are trapped inside the wreckage." Transport ministry official Bambang Ervan told AFP news agency there were 21 passengers and six crew on board the twin turbo-prop plane, operated by Merpati Airlines, which was flying from the coastal city of Sorong. Indonesia has seen a number of commercial airline crashes in recent years. In 2007, the European Union banned all of Indonesia's airlines including the national carrier Garuda. In 2009, Garuda and three other carriers were taken off the EU's list, but Merpati Airlines remains on it. Source: BBC

Pontianak is a stopover place, supposedly based in Jakarta. But I supposed ATR if they are offering daily flight. Wait till the load to be more positive then switch to bigger to aircraft.

Does anyone realise that MH will transfer KCH - JHB flight fully to FY once FY launches the flight?

KUCHING: Kal Star Aviation mengumumkan plan penerbangan terbaru menerusi laluan Jakarta-Pontianak-Kuching bagi memenuhi permintaan tinggi ke destinasi ini. Naib Presiden dan Peng-arahnya Aditya Wardana berkata, keputusan telah dibuat berikutan permintaan yang tinggi ke laluan ini setelah Air Asia menamatkan penerbangan Kuching-Jakarta. “Penerbangan pertama untuk laluan ini pada 9 Mei dari Jakarta dan akan singgah di Pontianak sebelum ke Kuching,” katanya semasa sidang media di Pejabat Konsulat Indonesia di sini semalam. Beliau percaya penerbangan itu akan menerima pasaran yang tinggi daripada Indonesia dan Sarawak. Menurutnya, penerbangan kos rendah itu merancang untuk melakukan penerbangan sehari sekali untuk laluan ini. Jelasnya, penerbangan itu nanti akan membuat persinggahan di Pontianak selama 45 minit. “Anggaran harga tiket penerbangan dari Kuching-Pontianak antara RM200 hingga RM250 manakala Kuching-Jakarta pula tidak melebihi RM500,” ujarnya. Aditya turut menegaskan bahawa Kal Star Aviation pada masa ini memberi khidmat penerbangan ke 62 laluan domestik dan lima laluan wilayah Indonesia sejak November 2007. Source: http://www.mysarawak.org/2011/04/26/kal-star-umum-laluan-terbaru-jakarta-pontianak-kuching.html

http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=580311&lang=en&cat=b Air Koryo Makes Maiden Landing At KLIA April 19, 2011 16:25 PM KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- Air Koryo, the national carrier of North Korea, has made its maiden landing at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The airline flies twice weekly to Kuala Lumpur from the capital city of Pyongyang, on Mondays and Thursdays, utilising a TU-204 Next Generation Tupolev type aircraft, with 142 seating capacity. For the inaugural flight yesterday, approximately 70 passengers from Pyongyang arrived at KLIA, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd said in a statement today. The inclusion of Air Koryo takes the total number of airlines operating at KLIA to 58. Air Koryo becomes the first airline to introduce direct schedule flights to Pyongyang from Kuala Lumpur. Air Koryo was founded on Sept 21, 1955 with the name Chosonminhang and was renamed to Air Koryo in March 1992. Its network covers Beijing and Shenyang in China, Vladivostok and Moscow in Russia, Bangkok, Thailand and now Kuala Lumpur. -- BERNAMA

AirAsia to fly from Kuching to Singapore twice daily from 13th Jun 2011. If this route is doing well, hopefully Jetstar can make a come back to Kuching.

He deserved to be fined and convicted. Btw, they not going to fine him for drinking alcohol since he is a muslim?

Most of the states want AK to build the hub... same goes for Labuan... AK wish to build a hub in Kuching only if a LCCT is build... how rubbish...

Malaysia Airlines during the month of April 2011 is reducing operation on Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo Narita and Kota Kinabalu – Tokyo Haneda. Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo Narita service reduce from 11 to 7 weekly from 01APR11 to 30APR11, while Kota Kinabalu – Tokyo Haneda will be SUSPENDED from 09APR11 till 24APR11. Schedule: Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo Narita MH088 KUL2330 – 0740+1NRT 772 D MH089 NRT1030 – 1645KUL 772 D http://airlineroute.net/2011/03/30/mh-tyo-apr11/

Sooner or later, I suppose the regional routes may experience lesser full frilled services or totally cut out...

Remember what happened to Avianca Flight 52? I think it would be a good lesson --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avianca_Flight_52

As in 30 minutes hop from KUL or SZB by flight? It would have cost rather more.. i supposed...

I don't understand why would they want to separate the gates to domestic and international... they could just utilise all the gates... PEN is not like KUL or any other major airports involves lot of different domestic and international flights which require the separation to avoid confusion among the passengers.

My PC crashed after navigating to the route map and checking on the timetable of the flight! Sucks!

Any idea that MasWings is also now plying on Kuching - Sarikei route? It's daily on DHT.

Why don't try JetStar... for months I've been waiting for cheap MEL - KUL flight since MH cost 455 AUD and AK cost 329 AUD. JetStar, thought stopover in SIN, cost me 284 AUD with luggage checked in, meal, entertainment...

yes, it's bookable from MS website, initially 3 times weekly then 4 times weekly starting Jan 2012, non stop.

That's so weird? KUL - SBW is apparently doing better than KUL - MYY?

D7 is going to reduce KUL - MEL flight to daily...

Well, I think it's quite true...

Maybe too... but still this route is not mainly tackle international transit... else KCH would have gained a lot of international routes... You do see a lot of blonde heads when you fly KUL - LGK back and forth, but definitely not on KUL - KCH route.

It's a shame to say MAS is so uncompetitive compared to SIA and if KUL wished to be the regional Hub and to compete with SIN, let AK expands their wings!

I can't imagine this... a nostalgia feeling towards this.. it;s a win win situation... AK does propose to government to build a LCCT in KCH but not LBU... and says the Gov really builds one for AK, does AK really going to utilise the LCCT to build KCH as a hub? The only reason KCH can be the top three busiest airport in Malaysia, literally beating PEN, is due to its domestic route! Esp KUL - KCH route, I would say this is the most golden route ever for any domestic route in Malaysia...

Perhaps Mahathir can be the protege?

A bomb from WW2... no wonder it halted so many flights.... and no doubt it mention only due to operational safety.. since bomb is a really sensitive word to mention in aviation industry...