Chris Tan

Good reason to send the A380s to LHR, I'd imagine.

You’re confusing outright bans with quarantine orders. AU/NZ aren’t banning incoming passengers — they just need to self-isolate. I know some people who prefer going now and self-isolate, rather than wait and risk an outright ban.

Those A359s are meant for domestic routes to begin with. It’s the A351s that will fly internationally.

Are we really going to pretend that average domestic fares haven't dropped dramatically since the "old glory days" of MH's monopoly?

Ah yes. The old glory days of RM800 tickets to East Malaysia. Good times.

I think KLIA3 (god help us if they stick to that nomenclature) is effectively MTB2. Satellite B would still part of the current MTB. It wasn’t too long ago that MAHB said KLIA3 is decades away. MTB expansion should be the more immediate plan I believe. In any case I can’t see how they can rely on the existing MTB facilities to serve another Satellite terminal.

If by “going places” you mean having a government that meddles non-stop with VN, then sure. Some people saying GA was going places after its rebirth in the early 2010s and that MH had so much to learn. Look how well that turned out.

We’re talking about granting a short extension to documented visitors who are having issues getting home. Nobody is suggesting granting them permanent residence/asylum/citizenship. How this compares to the issue of illegal immigration is beyond me.

The naming convention is irrelevant if the OP can't differentiate between the Aerotrain and the KLIA Ekspres.

You're confusing yourself. The aerotrain has nothing to do with KLIA2. It gets you between the C gates and A/B/G/H gates within the Main Terminal. From the Main Terminal you can take either the shuttle bus or KLIA ekspres to KLIA 2.

Either way there's going to be plenty of flak. If they restrict the entry of Chinese tourists they're going to be bashed for failing to achieve tourism targets, passenger traffic, etc etc. If they don't, the overnight medical experts will criticise them for being wilfully blind.

EK seems to have 5th freedom rights between PEN and SIN too. Been years since I flew a widebody on that route

If they’re going to lose money anyway they might as well get some shiny new widebodies

With a more lucrative home market I’d be disappointed if they didn’t find good routes to fly.

This is hardly an MH-only issue. The concept isn’t very difficult to understand: if you want free/cheap changes, buy a flexible ticket. Much easier to understand than things like CASK if you ask me

Do you think the vultures give a hoot about anything but their own bottom lines?

The AF/KL deal would spell the end of MH’s membership in OW. That would be a huge bummer.

What sort of hub would KUL be?

Out of KUL? Perhaps. In general? Absolutely not. You try comparing CX’s ex-HKG fares.

Never thought I’d see the day of SQ’s 772s returning to KUL

Thankfully for MAB the online community is teeming with expertise on how to run an airline.

By working with them to meet their requirements, do you mean bending over backwards to meet their demands? Because I don't remember seeing Changi build an LCCT because TF threw a tantrum. Or remove the aerobridges at T4 because they're deemed an unnecessary luxury. Do those governments entertain AirAsia's demands for lower PSC/taxes just because they're low-cost? If anything, this goes to show that MAHB is willing to even entertain AirAsia's nonsense. They know that going around kicking up a fuss in public isn't going to gain any traction in other countries.

And if you put any thought into the article instead of taking it face value you might find that it’s an awfully convenient excuse to cut excess capacity. Let’s not be so naive, shall we? KUL is hardly bursting at the seams. As pointed out by others, KUL isn’t in desperate need of a 3-runway operation quite yet.

DXB only has two runways and it’s much busier than KUL. Closing one runway has a tremendous impact on operations, so of course they’d have to rush the repairs. EK had to trim a significant chunk of flights when DXB was on one runway ops. Do you see the AK group shelving a third of its flights because KUL is down to 2 runways?

I’m quite glad the people in power don’t advocate for lower wages in their pursuit of raising the average income. One of those “reasons” which were not elaborated on in your post can be found just two posts up. Many leisure travellers aren’t willing to pony up for the convenience of a direct flight. You want convenience, you pay for it. Clearly MH knows they can get away with charging higher prices for ex-KUL, the same way SQ/CX charge exorbitant prices out of SIN/HKG. I don’t see how MH is in a different position compared to other airlines here. Direct flights are convenient, and convenience doesn’t come cheap. It’s a worldwide trend that MH would be foolish to buck. If they’re going to have any hope of getting half-decent yields (which many here have been advocating for), slashing prices to please a price-sensitive bunch probably isn’t the best strategy, is it? Some might praise CX/KA for being so affordable out of KUL but conveniently forget the reason behind CX’s withdrawal from KUL. And it seems like they’re also blithely unaware of how insane CX’s pricing is out of HKG. Because CX can, just like how MH can rightfully command a premium out of KUL.