Chris Tan

One of the rare instances of KUL getting more capacity than SIN

Good to know. I was starting to think nobody was flying to/from Europe because their airports are chaotic and our country is in shambles!

If any of those have a shot at coming to fruition, it's AMS. They won't have enough frames for a big expansion, considering how the neos will be more of a 1 to 1 replacement for the current 333s.

It's one of those partnerships that I forget even exist. No real point in partnering with all three of the ME3.

CGK seems to be slower to recover. As far as I can tell, still once daily but jumps to 5x 738 overnight as of NW22. Even SQ’s frequency isn’t quite near pre-pandemic.

Trade volume and passenger traffic don't necessarily correlate. The US is one of our largest trading partners but you don't see anyone launching flights. Trade with the UK is tiny in comparison but MH is making a killing out of LHR flights.

Funny you should mention Thailand, as if their domestic political scene is an oasis of calm. You think poverty doesn't exist there? That doesn't stop TG from flying richer folk from elsewhere into BKK, HKT and beyond. TG is hardly a model for how to run a profitable business, but for better or worse, it does put Thailand on the map. In Singapore's case, relatively few visitors fly all the way there just for that MBS infinity pool Instagram shot. Yes, they have much more business traffic, but a lot of their non-Chinese tourists are only on stopovers because it's a convenient spot between regional attractions. Malaysia used to get a lot of that until MH slashed their international network. Clearly, this is becoming a chicken-and-egg rant driven by political emotion more than facts. For the benefit of everyone else, I shan't drag it further into the abyss. But I will summarize my point: MH is going to bleed one way or another, until fundamental changes are made at the very top. I'd rather a bleeding MH that actually benefits Malaysians, than a bleeding MH that tries to become an expensive LCC. I have no fantasies about MH becoming a truly profitable global carrier like SQ, nor do I delude myself into thinking the billions pumped into MH would go into some other worthy project that benefits the rakyat. It's not my first day in Malaysia.

You're looking at everything from a Malaysian-only perspective. People flying in and out of Europe and North America include foreigners who don't give two hoots our dysfunctional domestic politics. You have a consistently good product, good champagne, and a decent network? People will notice. Do you think SQ built their brand by being a sad regional carrier for half a century? And I don't see the relevance of the M40/T20 in this discussion. Do you think the B40 will go on a 2-week California + Disneyland trip even if the MYR had the strength of the SGD? Conversely, what better time to attract people to your country than when you have a weak currency? I doubt anyone here expects MH to miraculously turn into a profit-making machine with a slightly expanded network. But if the choice were between a money pit with nothing to show for, and a money pit that brings tourists in, puts KLIA on the radar while delivering a modicum of recognition to the country, I know which one I'd take.

Nobody is asking MH to rush back to AMS or IST next week. By the time they get their new planes and muster the willpower to expand, all this chaos in Europe should be a distant memory. Bearing the brunt? Hardly. They haven't had to slash their network or re-time their flights significantly. If anything, SQ's European operations are relatively unscathed. If you read the complaints and rants in context, you'll notice that SQ has been in terminal decline since...forever. Even in the best of times, people will find things to moan about. Point is, in spite of all their grievances, SQ's flights are still chock-a-block. And look at the rates they get away with. That's a pretty successful airline in my books. You want to be taken seriously on the global stage, you'll need to serve Europe and North America. IST is a leisure market for Malaysians. MH would have a better shot at making AMS work.

I think there's a ~3:30pm to JFK as well, yes?

Which airlines? I'm only aware of regulators warning airlines to refund cancelled flights during the very early days of the pandemic, when flights were slashed from original schedules. That's quite different from "cash raising activities". Few airlines have received as much state support as MH, and the government still gave them their blessings to avoid refunding customers. You're right, it's a truly incomparable situation. That's why I believe emptier planes are better for the environment - less weight, less fuelburn. More space for those onboard, too ^ .Imagine having 290+ on their A330s! Imagine how much better off the environment would be if we got rid of those.

It's fine if these 738s are captive to short and super-price sensitive routes. Nobody needs IFE or reclining seats on a KUL-TGG hop. But for markets like HKG, DEL, PER, etc, they're making themselves irrelevant by having such an embarrassing product. It's a vicious cycle - the more of these ridiculous cuts they make, the less people are inclined to pay a premium. Of course their yields are going to suffer. Which carriers are you referring to? I haven't encountered any airlines that are nearly as bad in that regard as MH/AK. US airlines are more or less back to pre-Covid levels for North America. It's a similar story with EU airlines (and LX/BA). Their recent cuts are out of operational necessity than deception.

MH really seems keen on winning the race to the bottom…

Both AK and MH have been outdoing one another in that respect. Can't think of any other country that allows their airlines to get away with such ridiculous antics. It's one thing to cancel or reschedule flights repeatedly. But to hold on to people's funds without offering a reasonable alternative, is contempt on another level. Their reputations will suffer for a long time to come. From a commonality standpoint, the 359 and 339 make sense. Then again, their decisions have historically been less than sensible, so who knows.

It's way too early to speculate on the future of MH's TYO service. At the moment we don't even know what their intention is with the HND slots. They're not anywhere near full schedule yet. Plenty of frames to go around.