Kris Kim

MH will again increase MEL-KUL to 17 weekly from 16NOV to 29FEB, any chance that these flights become permanent? https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285614/malaysia-airlines-nw19-melbourne-frequency-changes/

MH will increase MEL to 17 weekly, this will only be from 01JUL to 30SEP. I think MH is testing the market too see if a third service is sustainable before committing to a year round increase. The service will also give Tullamarine a morning KUL service since D7 went to Avalon. I wonder if D7's move has had a positive impact on MH - though price is still the main motivator for these services. Source: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/282970/malaysia-airlines-increases-melbourne-service-in-3q19/

I thought MEL and AVV were both restricted under the bi-lateral agreement as both are considered as 'Melbourne' airports. There are some exceptions, The Philippines applied for extra capacity for AVV which was approved, but 5J didn't want to use AVV anyways.

Did D7 revise its livery again? It looks like the 'AirAsia' logo on the tail is the same as the A320's now without the 'X' and is diagonal, 9M-XXD (UFC Livery) and 9M-XXI currently have the new tail. White engines with no logo.

I hearing that MH will increase MEL to x17 weekly?

Reservations now open for the new MEL services.

Any news on OD's KUL-DPS-MEL route?

D7 have applied for x4 more weekly flights on the MEL-KUL route during busy periods in July and September. Those pax who are booking with D7 might be in for a rude shock when they realised that they booked for flights departing/arriving at AVV, imagine those with tickets connecting onwards to domestic flights! As the airline has not yet given an exact date, besides "late 2018" IMHO its poor form to be selling tickets advertised as MEL - Tullamarine. Call it a hunch, but I don't think D7 will last 2 years at AVV, they will likely have a spit operation with x2 daily going back to MEL, and possibly a daily flight out of AVV (or less, something like x4 weekly) Just because the cost of operating at AVV is cheaper, does not mean that pax will simply follow, JQ always has the cheapest fares exAVV, yet people rather pay that little extra to fly exMEL instead. JQ, TR, OD and MH must be very happy with this announcement, its a win win for JQ either way.

The deal is for 10 years, I wonder if the numbers will stake up for D7, but if they can get XT and XJ onboard too, they can have a nice little operation out of AVV. Maybe launch a domestic operation, Air Asia Australia to feed all 3 carriers?

Malindo have been awarded rights to operate KUL-MEL x4 weekly for a October start, will they get their A330's in time? I heard its a afternoon departure from KUL arriving in MEL at around 22:00 then the return departing MEL early the next morning.

Thanks for the replies guys! Well it is school holidays season down in MEL and SYD, so loads are likely yo be high. I wonder if they offered the First Class seats to some high tier pax?

Is there a reason why? Seems strange to suddenly operate the A380 on scheduled flights for only 4 days.

Anyone know why there is an MH A380 sitting at MEL today? It operated MH148/149 today and looks like it is also scheduled for the next 2 days as well. Quite strange, and pleasantly surprised to see it at MEL! I believe its the first time an MH A380 has been on a regular service to MEL, besides the Real Madrid charter a while back.

I wonder if they will be able to use the AirAsia brand? One of the main reasons they broke ties with VietJet was because of this, Jetstar Pacific also had a hard time too, even today the Jetstar branding for the airline is not inline with other subsidiaries (3K, JQ, GK) with the logo on the tail faded to grey instead of black. Jetstar may reject AirAsia's branding unless it is altered like theirs, the Vietnamese government is highly against the use of foreign brands for its airlines for some reason.

Here's my 5 minute patch up job, I just think the current logo is very cheap, even a generic one on MS Powerpoint looks much better. The current Batik Air branding simply doesn't shout "premium", IMHO its more like a LCC and gives the perception of one (from a foreigner's point of view).

JQ operated SYD-KUL for a short time. Well JQ is returning to SGN, although they do have a bigger brand presence in the Vietnamese market through Jetstar Pacific (BL) and face less competition, they also fly MEL-BKK/HKT/SGN/SIN/DPS and SYD-HKT/SGN/DPS, so I think if JQ is looking at expanding in SE Asia next they might look into KUL, or even PEN, BKI next. However for the time being it seems like they want to expand into China. AirAsia is doing a great job flying Aussies into Malaysia and promoting the market, they might consider looking at adding PEN, BKI direct flights into Australia in the future, especially with A320NEO's being able to reach MEL/SYD.

Nope, the article never mentioned KUL-BNE being on an A330, only MEL and SYD. The BNE flight will most definitely be routed viaDPS. The BNE-Malaysia market is quite weak compared to MEL, SYD and PER so its tougher to crack, wasn't MH loosing money on the route? I doesn't look like MH is too keen to comeback and D7 is happy at OOL, atleast SE Queensland has direct flights to KUL.

I wonder with A321/A320NEO's coming online, if OD/AK will start looking at SYD/MEL-BKI? I think that it will be interesting to see if it will work out of MEL - being the strongest inbound market for Malaysia-Australia traffic.

According to @Airlineroute on twitter, PR has filed proposed schedules for KUL due to restart on 25JUL, using A321 equipment. Schedules aren't shown yet but is expected to be published soon.

Nope, there is still room, remember MH has taken alot of capacity out of the market, whereas D7 has relatively remained flat. The only additions were OD's new PER-KUL route and D7's new seasonal x4 weekly increase at MEL. There is still room for atleast a daily flight out of MEL and SYD, the air service agreements only apply to MEL, SYD, PER and BNE.

According to a CAPA report: OD will receive A330's in 2017-2018 which will be used to launch operations into MEL & SYD! Batik Group Route launches into Australia from 2017 to 2018 in order of expected launch: Denpasar - Perth: A320CEO Denpasar - Brisbane: 737-800 Denpasar - Melbourne: A321NEO Kuala Lumpur - Melbourne: A330-300 Denpasar - Sydney: A321NEO Kuala Lumpur - Sydney: A330-300 Jakarta - Perth: A320CEO Jakarta - Melbourne: A321NEO Jakarta - Sydney: A321NEO https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/indonesias-lion-group-plans-up-to-10-new-routes-to-australia-under-the-batik-air-brand-by-end-2018-321673

I'm not sure what you mean by BIG account? But as KA is a oneworld affiliated member, points and status credits will be awarded to those members of AA, BA, QF etc... frequent flyer programs.

Oh Please spill the beans if you have any info! Are you talking about DXB-KUL or KUL-MEL?

Nope, bi-laterals have not been reached yet. D7 has not added any new capacity into MEL/SYD/PER, they have only reinstated services back to x2 daily, with the exception of MEL which goes 17 weekly in the peak (new). MH has chopped a daily each from MEL/SYD/PER and completely axed BNE, thats an extra 4 daily services worth of seats that became available, so there is plenty of space left in the bi-lateral for MH to add seats, if they want too that is. I think both MEL and SYD are comfortable at x2 daily each, it provides good feed to MH's network and onwards to LHR. If they can't sell the A380, could they send 1 daily to MEL and SYD each? In this scenario I would personally keep 1 daily LHR flight for feed from MEL and SYD, with the other daily flight operated by the A350. The now freed up A350 could be used to re-open AMS/FRA/CDG? I forgot that OD started PER! But there's still plenty of room left in the bi-lateral for MH to increase services/seats!

The first 2 will pretty much be dedicated to BKK-MEL, TG465/466 goes A350 from 16SEP, then TG461/462 goes A350 from 01OCT. Though anything can happen between now and 16SEP! Though they will mainly be doing CNX and HKT until MEL starts.