Chris Tan

It should be the passengers who are congratulated for surviving such an ordeal

It’s 2x 77W 1x A380 when the third daily first resumes, then 2x A380 1x 77W come 1 Aug.

Does anyone know what FY's SZB bag drop deadline is? I recall pre-Covid they had a rather unreasonable deadline (60 mins) for bags, which seemed entirely unnecessary for an airport like SZB. Looking through their CoC, it says the counters close 30 mins before, but I'm not sure if it's any different with bags.

This must be their third or so "resumption" for YIA. Or am I thinking of another destination?

They manage to fly ICN and NRT while avoiding Russian airspace. I’m sure they can do the same for HKG if they wanted to. In any case, flying via BKK avoids it entirely but they still chose KUL.

AMS-BKK has more than enough to stand on its own, and that matters much more than BKK-HKG. Yes, they flew AMS-HKG direct pre-pandemic, and I'm sure it'll come back once demand rebounds. KUL-TPE is a bit of a stretch. I don't think the crew can operate that route as a turn, compared to say ICN/HKG/BKK-TPE.

Similar to what SQ has done with their lower-yielding regional routes - handed to TR but codeshared, so connections are still easy enough. Not so great for those expecting OW benefits, but they're probably a small minority in those markets.

How else can they add misleading surcharges and pin it on the airport authority?

Do you?

I'm quite aware of equipment swaps being perfectly legal (having flown TG and CX regional once or twice). That doesn't in any way lessen the disappointment of having your 5K on a QR 77P swapped for 5K on an MH 333. It might be legal, and most frequent flyers are aware of that possibility, but do it often enough and people will take their money elsewhere. When you're paying QR prices, you expect something along the lines of QR standards -- the leased WY/CX birds are fine, for example. I'm not entirely sure how HiFly and the likes came into the picture. This is QR we're talking about, not TP or D8. QR isn't THAT desperate for planes. You don't pay RM26 at Madam Kwan's only to be served a food court Nasi Lemak because of a kitchen issue, and told to be thankful they didn't get it from the roadside stall.

Plenty of passengers booked before the switch happened, so it's understandable why they'd be annoyed. I'm not aware of QR offering an unofficial same-day change - that's news to me. Is it only at KUL?

It's basically a wet lease in all but name. Quite handy for QR with an acute aircraft shortage, especially during the World Cup. Not so good for passengers expecting QSuites but end up with a rickety MH 333. Maybe the 35K can be a win-win after all

A bit like the short-lived PEN-SIN reappearance

Don't worry. I'm sure they'll announce MYY-LAX soon enough.

TPAC services with 7M8s, anyone?

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?