Izanee

yeah...i agree the politicians should stay out. however, MH fares are ridiculous as their 'refurbishment' exercise is merely following what SQ started doing 10 years ago. At the end of the day, you can't try to raise fares to increase yields - not in a market like Malaysia!

thanks for the coverage guys...was wondering if there would be anyone there today! good pictures of the KU 340! emperor - love the EK 77W - nice strobe light effect!

wow...love the photos - especially of the 747SP.

thanks guys....its something i needed to get off my chest. Been hoping for miracles from MH - just when they seem to be doing great - they get a setback. I just noticed that SQ last did a revamp about 1997 (MH is ten years behind i guess - and still offering an inferior product). MH cabin crew are still their best assets - there's no doubt about that. Like KK lee said - hope they don't ruin them ... they've been through a lot already..

holy moly...MH just got blown out of the sky.. we are years behind...and i doubt we will ever catch up with them, as u guys have been discussing. nice pictures.... MH has no bloody drive, ambition or innovation. They don't even want to compete with SQ anymore. "Oh yeah, we don't have much of a market - we will rebrand ourselves as a leisure airline. " we certainly have a bit more of an advantage compared to SIN (25 million vs 4 million). Okay - maybe KUL not a big financial hub as compared to SIN - but come on guys, get a grip. fight for the business market - like EK did. lets not go into how they managed to get so big so fast... if you still want to remain a leisure airline - go LCC like Aer lingus. You are not gonna make money like SQ, or even TG. THe last time i heard similar statements - in the 60s/70s when our leaders said that we are a small country and should only concentrate on agriculture and mining. what did singapore do??? they had jack all natural resources - and made themselves into a huge industrial, financial and tourist destination. of course, its easier to say than do, and I know that early Malaysia had a huge obstacle to climb, especially with regards to race relations, communist insurgency etc etc. Stop following and be a leader for a change. route rationalisation and restructuring will not help at all because the main cause of the problem is not sorted out - that is the high number of managers/directors who suck in all the money but have no forward vision or drive to see MH succeed. This is the same with KLIA as well - they are just unable to learn from things around them as they never open their eyes wide enough. Sorry - just had to let this rant out..

i loved the old colours...the new ones make it look like a cheapo LCC! maybe i'm getting old.. anyways - KE is using B747-400 daily to KUL at the moment. just checked amadeus.net

its also cheaper to fly emirates than MH - i'm sure cost is a significant factor when it comes to malaysia. better suffer in cramped seats and pay less than to fly in larger seat but pay more. that's malaysian mentality.

my favourites are KUL, AMS, SIN, PER MAN, GLA and EDI are my favourites in UK - nothing much to do but nice and friendly. Easy immigration.. DXB,CGK, BCN are okay LHR is crap except for Terminal 4. Terminal 3 is the worst - all the intercontinental flights to Africa, Asia and the middle east depart/arrive there - too busy for my liking. No personal space at all. The worst i've been to is BKI low cost terminal - but CAI, BKK, JED are pretty bad too.

do they think they will be our own 'emirates'? what the??

don't worry SV! ... i was just wondering what that meant. I'm sure that the figures do add up. KLIA's growth so far has not been what was anticipated...we are well away from the 25 million target set by the government. It is obvious that the growth is driven by Air Asia - and with MH's frequency and destination reduction - the growth will definitely be slower this year.

SV choong...what do you mean about not believing the rankings? Isn't it from a reputable source?

Hey guys..this is what we've been waiting for... This answers some of KLIA's greatest critics that think it is a white elephant. While we are way behind SIN and BKK, we are ahead of many important cities worldwide - MAN, ZRH, VIE, BOM, DEL, JNB, IST, etc. that attract so many different airlines. We are doing okay with the 50 airlines or so that fly here compared to BKK's 80 odd, IST's 120 and SIN's 70. Selected TOP 100 airports worldwide. 1. ATL 85.9 million 2. ORD 76.5 million 3. LHR 67.9 4. HND 63.2 5. LAX 61.4 6. DFW 59.1 7. CDG 53.7 8. FRA 52.2 9. AMS 44.1 (PIETER WILL BE HAPPY WITH THIS) 10. LAS 43.9 15. PEK 41 (GROWTH 17.5%) 16. HKG 40.2 (GROWTH 9.7%) 18. BKK 38.9 (GROWTH 2.7%) this will increase with the opening of Suvarnabhumi - no slot restrictions 25. SIN 32.4 (GROWTH 6.8%) 27. NRT 31.4 31. SYD 29.3 32. FCO 28.6 35. CGK 27.9 (GROWTH 8.8%) 40. ICN 26.2 42. DXB 24.7 (MANA EK?) (GROWTH 14.1%) 44. PVG 23.7 (GROWTH 12.3%) 45. CAN 23.5 (GROWTH 15.7%) 46. KUL 23.2 (GROWTH 10.2%) 48. MAN 22.7 52. TPE 21.7 54. MEL 21.2 55. IST 21.1 (GROWTH 21.6%) 59. MXP 19.6 66. ZRH 17.8 69. BOM 17.4 71. ARN 17.2 75. KIX 16.3 77. MNL 16.2 78. BNE 16.1 82. VIE 15.8 83. JNB 15.7 (GROWTH 15.6%) 85. DEL 15 (GROWTH 23.6%) 89. DME 13.9 90. CTU 13.8 (GROWTH 18.9%) 94. JED 13.3 96. SVO 12.1 100. CJU 11.3 SOURCE: AIRLINER WORLD MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2006

KLM's service is quite good. Yeah, they don't have PTVs on KUL-AMS flights, and the food is okay - but the crew are quite nice. Particularly like the Cityhopper flights from AMS-MAN vv. Nice friendly crew, good food. Okay - you can't compare the service to MH, but KL is better than BA, IB, QF, MS, SV, BD. EK is better not because of the crew but because of the ICE system and the good food. MH wins overall though. Just my two sen worth.

If we believe what the letter says - the steward's comments are indeed out of line. MH are usually really good at announcing sahur and iftar times on their long haul flights. I've never had any problems with them on LHR-KUL-LHR flights. The crew have been brilliant in helping us during the fasting month. Having said that - if you are travelling more than 16 marhalahs (or 96km), you are not required to fast but to 'repay' that fast on another day (after ramadhan). Some people rather not waste a day and prefer to complete the whole month - especially in this day and age when travelling long distances are so straightforward (compared to travelling by camel or horse or even by walking from place to place!). Like someone above mentioned, she could have been asleep when the announcement was made!

newcastle?? forget that. Lets follow Shaheen air of pakistan and fly direct into Robin Hood airport in Doncaster - that way I can get home much easier. And forget double daily - Why should we when we can fly once weekly? WE could also maybe extend that service to fly into Havana while we're on a roll. From there we can also do 'hub and spoke' - once weekly to Guantanamo Bay to supply nasi lemak and rendang to the two Malaysian detainees there.

September 29, 2006 19:19 PM E-mail this news to a friend Printable version of this news Envoy Urges MAS To Reintroduce Direct Flights To Brussels By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) - Malaysia Airlines (MAS) should look into the possibility of reintroducing direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to the European capital of Brussels and vice-versa. Head of Mission to the European Communities and Malaysian Ambassador to Belgium, Datuk Mohammad Kamal Yan Yahya, said at the moment none of the South-East Asian airlines flies direct to Brussels. "We are trying to get MAS to fly to Brussels. The flights will encourage more people to come to Malaysia and vice versa," he told Bernama in Brussels recently. Mohammad Kamal said MAS had direct flights some years ago but the service was halted. "Things have changed. The European Union (EU) has expanded to 25 countries now. And we have a lot of people working here in the EU now. "The reintroduction of direct flights will also help in encouraging tourism from both sides especially with the Malaysia Visit Year in 2007," he said. Mohammad Kamal, who is also accredited the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, assumed office here last December. Earlier, he had served as Malaysian Ambassador to Cuba with concurrent accreditation to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas. -- BERNAMA What a load of bull...

NW started flights to KUL in the 80s - but withdrew as MH were accused of 'fare dumping'. There was bad blood between MH and NW so they decided to withdraw from KUL. They restarted their thrice weekly DC-10-30 flights (NW70) from KUL-KIX-DTW (KIX-DTW was with 744) in 1999. They suspended their services after 9/11 and never restarted. What a shame. I wish that they started flights to KUL via NRT which would probably have helped a lot more with loads/yields and whatever buzz words you guys like to use nowadays!

other airlines can make it work....why can't MH? SQ can do it...using lots of malaysian passengers i'm sure. you can't offer 3xweekly services when other airlines offer 3xdaily services. its just not gonna work. i agree with what they say in the article - short term savings equal long term losses..

From Bernama.com: September 20, 2006 12:20 PM E-mail this news to a friend Printable version of this news US & Swedish Cargo Agents Worried Over MAS' Route Discontinuation By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Cargo agents and general sales agents of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) operating in the United States and Sweden are worried over the airline's plan to discontinue service from Kuala Lumpur to Newark via Stockholm. Cargo agents and GSAs from Sweden and the USA at the recently held Air Cargo Forum in Calgary, Canada, said that the service would be discontinued from mid-January 2007. Some U.S. cargo agents present at the Calgary event were privately saying that it did not make any "business sense" to discontinue the service to Newark which is a lucrative market for passenger and cargo traffic. At present, MAS transports cargo to Stockholm and Newark in the belly of passenger planes flying to these destinations. Some agents said that the decision was "myopic" while it may initially contribute to a moderate savings, in the long run it would be a big loss for MAS not to fly to the east coast of the United States. "This could possibly be a fatal decision, particularly in the age of globalisation when everybody wants to be in North America. Look at Singapore Airline, Thai Air, Emirates and others who are scrambling to the east coast and increasing their flights. Should MAS decide to come back later after realising it had been a mistake to withdraw from the US, it would have lost its foothold in the market which has so many competitors. I cannot understand the rationality behind the MAS decision," said one agent who requested anonymity. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the two airports, is closely watching MAS' moves. A spokesperson of the PANYNJ said that her organisation was "monitoring" the situation and "would do all that was possible to retain Malaysia Airlines". The Swedes are even more worried. Stockholm airport, for example, has been courting the Malaysian authorities since a year in behind-the-scene activities, offering all kinds of facilities if MAS decided not to give up its Stockholm stopover en route Newark airport. Mats Sigurdson, the director of Aviation Marketing of Sweden's LFV Airport Group, which is responsible for 17 airports in Sweden, including Stockholm, was perplexed at the reasons for MAS' discontinuation of the Stockholm-Newark route. In an interview given to this correspondent in Calgary, Sigurdson explained why MAS should use Stockholm to fly to the USA in the West or to Kuala Lumpur in the East. "If you want to go to Kuala Lumpur via Europe from the United States, it would take you an additional six hours from other European airports. MAS is a prestigious customer for us, and we would like to retain it at Stockholm," he said. But Sigurdson said that he was surprised that his organisation was not yet informed about the planned discontinuation of the Stockholm-Newark service, although he knew for a fact that Swedish travel and cargo agents had been notified about the planned stoppage of the service effective mid January 2007. "Swedish travel agents were informed about the discontinuation and told to re-book passengers flying to Kuala Lumpur from January 14 next year," he maintained. Sigurdson and his colleagues visited Kuala Lumpur last November when he had informally come to know from third parties about the move to stop the Stockholm service. Indeed, the Swedish side has also been talking to the Malaysian ambassador in Stockholm to use his good office to stop MAS' withdrawal from the Stockholm route. The Swedes are waiting for a response from the Malaysian side to open up the dialogue. The Swedish side has agreed to provide incentives such as reduction of start and landing fees, passenger rates and other charges. "We have even agreed to renounce our standard passenger fee of 111 Swedish krones," he said. "We are, of course, not happy to lose a prestigious airline such as MAS. However, we are wondering why Swedish agents were informed and not the Swedish aviation authorities or the airport which is, in fact, directly affected by the decision," he said. "Speculation is a source of uncertainty. It is therefore better for both sides to talk directly to each other rather than rely on third party speculation. We are always open to discussing further with Malaysia Airlines and other Malaysian authorities." Malaysia, he added, is a popular destination both for Swedish leisure and business travellers, and there is good potential to develop the cargo business both from the United States and Sweden. He also pointed out that because of the well-established feeder service from Stockholm airport to as far as the Baltic states, Malaysia Airlines could develop a the well-knit distribution service in Northern Europe and the Baltic region. After all, he claimed, Thai Airways has been doing well and is also increasing the number of flights from six to seven a week. Besides the Swedish tourism industry, Swedish businesses and industry were also interested to retain MAS at Stockholm. -- BERNAMA

Really?? then how do you explain Riau Airlines F50 flights to KUL? I'm sure KUL wants all the traffic they can get...

thanks for the info...that's really good news! hope it becomes a reality

Guys...looks like Kuwait Airways schedules are up on amadeus.net From Thursday November 2, 2006 - KWI-BKK-KUL twice weekly with A340. Good news for KLIA. NOw for Etihad to start flights to KL, and RJ to return... sigh...

it was bukit puchong...wasn't it. it had to be elevated ground since the plane smashed into it at 400 feet. i remember that incident so well....not long after that flying tigers were taken over by FedEx...so never got to see them on final approach to subang ...

nice pics guys! good catch... i miss the ol' days when we could see Tristars of RJ, BA, CX in SZB... sigh we've only got CX left now serving KUL... what a shame

i'm sure in the 80s/90s MH/SQ shuttle services amounted to around 20/day with MH 734/735/AB4 and SQ 310/757/747 before being cut back by the financial crisis.. if AK were to operate 20/day flights....MH/SQ will suffer....with MH taking most of the flak. what i dont want is SQ pulling out as it offers huge capacity with the 772 (might get silk air's 320 instead)... tony is interested in the money and that's all...