MH to drop FRA???

[Jessnor Arif 1]

MH frequency to FRA was down from Frankfurt to KUL. From September. from 5 to 4 weekly.

 

The irony of this move is that German tourist are flocking to Malaysia on summer. Using other than MH.

 

Could this be a sign that MH will eventually drop FRA?

 

What can I say... MH lacks of promotion here in Germany.

[kandiah k 0]

I read in an online newslink that Toruism Malaysia is really unhappy that the influx of German tourist into Malaysia may be deterred by the reduction in services to FRA from KUL and vv on Malaysia Airlines. However, nothing was mentioned about LH and its one stop services via BKK. According to the link, Tourism Malaysia has inked an agreement with SQ for travel packages to Malaysia from Germany via Singapore's Changi Airport. It is obvious that EK, QR and EY have taken over as the preferred airline to many destination across Europe compared to MH due to the price differences.

 

It is indeed sad that MH cant do well on this route OR it may be facing pressure from Skyteam to drop non- Skyteam hubs before joining the alliance. I also feel it could be due to the oil prices soaring that the frequencies are reduced for a short time frame.

 

Let us hope something good comes out of this or LH may increase their frequency / capacity into KUL, hopefully without a stop over to BKK and a superior service to its current one, which may attaract more pax on this route and use FRA/MUC as a stop over point in Europe.

 

 

[Ryan Soh 3]

What can I say... MH lacks of promotion here in Germany.

There is nothing TO say, MH lacks promotions EVERYWHERE! Needless to say, their marketing dept needs a real hard kick in their butts.

[Rozhan 0]

Lack Of Air Connectivity Can Impair German Tourism Traffic To Malaysia

 

By Manik Mehta

 

FRANKFURT, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Although Malaysia is increasingly becoming a popular destination among German tourists, the strong growth in traffic to Malaysia could be seriously impaired with long-term implications for tourism if adequate air connections are not available from Germany to Malaysia.

 

This view widespread among German tour operators, who offer Malaysia as a destination, is also shared by the Frankfurt-based director of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia), Syed Yahya Syed Othman, who took over the directorship in Frankfurt only four months ago after serving at the Tourism Malaysia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Prior to his home posting, he was director of Tourism Malaysia office in Seoul.

 

"Traffic from Germany to Malaysia posted a 35 percent growth during the first six months of the current year over the year earlier," he told Bernama.

 

Traffic to Malaysia from other German-speaking countries such as Switzerland and Austria has also increased by 17 and 3 per cent, respectively.

 

However, Malaysia, already facing a paucity of direct flights to and from Western Europe, is now feeling the pressure as tourists, unable to get good flight connections, are opting for Thailand and Bali instead.

 

"The frequency of air connections between Germany and Malaysia has gone down," he said.

 

Malaysian Airlines (MAS) has slashed its weekly flights to Frankfurt from five to four effective September, creating traffic bottlenecks just as the number of German tourists in Malaysia has steadily surged.

 

German tour operators, who offer Malaysia as a destination, are not happy with what they perceive as a "pennywise-pound-foolish" tactic.

 

"MAS will not only lose its market share in Germany and other countries but its move will also adversely affect traffic to Malaysia in the long run.

 

"Other destinations, particularly Thailand and the Indonesian island of Bali, offer better accessibility and air connections and will naturally stand to gain at Malaysia’s expense if MAS reduces its flight frequency," says one Frankfurt-based operator.

 

Singapore Airlines is already scoring points from Frankfurt which is well patronised by German customers. Thai Airways and even the low-key Royal Brunei Airlines are also expected to benefit from MAS flight reduction as they take passengers to their home airport base and then offer connections to Malaysia.

 

"We are now aggressively working with other airlines to push traffic from Germany to Malaysia via a third country though I personally feel it is a pity that our national carrier should lose business, particularly at a time when there is an impressive surge in tourism not only from Germany but other neighbouring countries as well," Syed Yahya admitted.

 

He is coordinating not only with Singapore Airlines but also with Cathay Pacific, Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air, Emirates and Korean Airlines to work out package deals for tourists interested to visit Malaysia.

 

"We participated in a joint tactical campaign with Singapore Airlines recently," he said..

 

Traffic has also risen from the Netherlands ( 50%) and Belgium ( 83%) in the first six months of the year over the corresponding period last year.

 

In absolute terms, Malaysia received 52,238 arrivals from Germany, 12,714 from Switzerland, 7,087 from Austria, 39,639 from the Netherlands and 7,447 from Belgium in the first half of this year.

 

Syed Yahya said Germans are fascinated by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur and are deeply impressed by the hospitality and friendliness of Malaysians.

 

"Germans are pleasantly surprised to find Kuala Lumpur a very modern and sophisticated city with sprawling shopping malls, culture and entertainment," he said.

 

Sabah and Sarawak, with their rainforest and pristine sandy beaches, are a big draw for German tourists.

 

But Syed Yahya says he is also very keen to foray into the lucrative MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) market, given the fact that Malaysia has a "very modern and sophisticated infrastructure, combined with entertainment and tourist attractions".

 

The forthcoming ITB Asia 2008, the Asian version of the worlds biggest tourism fair called "International Tourism Bourse of Berlin", is being organised by the Berlin trade fair company "Messe Berlin" for the first time in Singapore in October.

 

"The ITB Asia will be a very interesting venue for attracting visitors to Malaysia which is easily accessible from Singapore. We can offer visitors to Singapore a package for Malaysia as part of a larger tour programme of the region.

 

"Of course, we are focusing on leisure tourism but the incentive market also holds out the promise of good business. There are many big companies in Germany that will be interested in sending their delegates to Malaysia," he added.

 

-- BERNAMA

 

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=357304

Edited September 6, 2008 by Rozhan

[Ashmil Abd Ghani 0]

What happen MAS now...Why suddenly they reducing their frequency to FRA??Last month my aunt comes from Germany and she said that the aircraft fully loaded..Please don't say all because of yield or revenue per km..

 

We had talk same topic here before..Why MAS need to take unpopular step (reducing frequency) around Europe??Sad to hear all this while others airlines such SIA and Royal Brunei take advantage with this situation and more, they introduce holiday package to Malaysia..

 

What A shame..

 

 

[Keith T 2]

V surprising, I'd have thought FRA would be a high yield destination for most airlines due to the amount of business traffic and cargo. The non-daily service acts as a disincentive to lots of corporate traffic I'd assume, due to the inherent inflexibility with such a service.

 

All I can say is - it'd take an impressive (lack of) effort to screw up FRA!

 

Just some entirely non-professional musings from a casual, semi-informed observer.

[BC Tam 2]

All I can say is - it'd take an impressive (lack of) effort to screw up FRA!

Credit where credit is due, and vice-versa

Bear in mind this is the same airline that declared it would take more than what an aircraft could physically carry in flight to make that very flight viable economically (read Manchester experience)

Also the airline that deemed operations into London Heathrow hardly worthwhile cause there is no momey to be made there

To be fair, those words (musings perhaps ?) were uttered during the rallying cries in midst of the latest financial crisis when they were justifying impending staff redundancies - read them in that context

[Guest redharahmad]

I thought RBA no longer serves Frankfurt? how can they be taking advantage of MAS reductions then

[haansel 0]

Knowing that LHR flight is loseing money in MAS .FRA is nothing if you ask me. You could ask any widebody crew which been to Manchester,Zurich,Vienna and Cairo.Passangers are always full onbord.At one part vienna was using 747s at one time so if you could imagin.Manchester may not be a great hit but sendin a 777-200 insted of a 747 would have been much more economical.according to a pilot the A330-200 Which MAS currently leased by Sabena is actualy A good aircraft to send to vienna and Zurich.I m not sure about Munich.At times I wonder MAS is sometimes silly in making things work or not.

 

 

regards,

 

Haansel.

[Seth K 3]

MH losing money with LHR that's shocking...

[Ashmil Abd Ghani 0]

MH losing money with LHR that's shocking...

 

Yes I heard this rumor long time ago but I don’t know the truth.. Since MAS operate twice daily flight to LHR, the morning flight not really profitable flight (MH 2)..MAS operate to LHR just want to fulfill the landing slots given to them.. MAS has 18 slots/landing rights given if I not mistaken, including four slots given to BA long time ago and since BA no longer operate to KL sector so MAS obtain it.. Some people said that it hard to get landing right at LHR and once you surrender the landing rights/slots and it extremely hard to get back. I also heard that others Asia carrier ask MAS to give them some slot/landing right to them but till today I don’t see any news about it..

 

Personally I don’t why MAS need to operate twice daily service to LHR also AMS and close other routes round Europe, such as Zurich and Vienna. MAS operate twice daily flight to LHR because of passengers from Down Under want make a trip to LHR and make stop over at KUL.

 

It hard for me to sallow that MAS can’t afford to operate 3 times weekly flight to ZRH.

 

And now reducing flight from/to FRA..Will be next reducing frequency on Paris/PAR??

 

[Seth K 3]

Thanx for the info Ashmil. I always thought MH carry full load to LHR and back.

Is there any plan MH selling those slots? I remember GF sold theirs to AA a while ago for millions of Dollars.

[Azuan Zahdi 2]

On my recent flights to LHR and back, it was full both business and economy. I would say 70% pax from Down Under based on their luggage tags and conversations. Don't know about First class though. Too bad LHR it's not profitable..

[KK Lee 5]

Yes I heard this rumor long time ago but I don’t know the truth.. Since MAS operate twice daily flight to LHR, the morning flight not really profitable flight (MH 2)..MAS operate to LHR just want to fulfill the landing slots given to them.. MAS has 18 slots/landing rights given if I not mistaken, including four slots given to BA long time ago and since BA no longer operate to KL sector so MAS obtain it.. Some people said that it hard to get landing right at LHR and once you surrender the landing rights/slots and it extremely hard to get back. I also heard that others Asia carrier ask MAS to give them some slot/landing right to them but till today I don’t see any news about it..

 

Personally I don’t why MAS need to operate twice daily service to LHR also AMS and close other routes round Europe, such as Zurich and Vienna. MAS operate twice daily flight to LHR because of passengers from Down Under want make a trip to LHR and make stop over at KUL.

 

It hard for me to sallow that MAS can’t afford to operate 3 times weekly flight to ZRH.

 

And now reducing flight from/to FRA..Will be next reducing frequency on Paris/PAR??

 

 

Believe Kangaroo route are high load and profitable for SQ, QF, VS, BA, EK and EY.

 

Guess MH is in another league altogether.

 

 

[Mushrif A 3]

I believe MH may have sold/ leased the LHR slots to AI many months back?

[Izanee 0]

that's true....I read that somewhere too...this provoked my scathing remarks on the abilities of MH's managers.

 

I've said it many times before...and I wholly agree with Keith....How can MAS screw up high yield destinations like LHR, CDG, ZRH and FRA.

 

Mismanagement is more likely. Don't blame the passengers.

[haansel 0]

Biasa la this one MAS Marketing Managers are quite hopeless at times.It is not new.Lately i heard the for LHR runs based on frequency 10X a week but if passangers below 1/2 of the aircraft MAS will send pax on early or later flight no mh planes will go to LHR unless aircraft is above 1/2 or full.on the otherhand SIA plans to increase frequency to 4 380's a day according to some ground staff. Not sure if this is true(SIA is bumping in pax frm their flight to MAS flights.

 

Regards,

Haansel.

[fendy 2]

There is nothing TO say, MH lacks promotions EVERYWHERE! Needless to say, their marketing dept needs a real hard kick in their butts.

i'll join the marketing team!

[Ryan Soh 3]

i'll join the marketing team!

Fendy, you wanting to join the team is one thing. Whether will the head honchos go with your idea is another!

[Juergen Witte 0]

If it really turns out that MH may discontinue FRA-KUL there´s still "hope" ...

 

I´m expecting D7 to fly KUL-CGN or KUL-MUC (the latter less likely for some reasons) after they establish their KUL-STN/MAN service !

I know that there have been presentations of CGN and MUC airport with Air Asia X recently. So, judging the local situation here CGN would make the most sense for D7.

 

INFO:

CGN-airport is the biggest LCC-hub in Germany and at the same time well connected by high speed train "ICE" to FRA-airport (journey time 45-60 mins only) and the rest of the extensive German rail network !

 

Regarding the initial topic:

Germany has become one of the most yield sensitive markets despite Germans still continuing to keep up with their reputation as "world champions in travelling" ...

That´s why it´s difficult for airlines like MH to survive here. MH´s Y-class fares are among the highest on the market here (on par with SQ/CX but not offering the same onward connectivity)

MH has in Germany the reputation to offer the best Economy product but "Mr. Average Passenger" simply cares for the lowest price - willing to sacrifice superior Quality in exchange for lower fares ! ! !

That´s where (and why) D7 will possibly be able to get into the game ...

We´ll see ...

[Jessnor Arif 1]

INFO:

CGN-airport is the biggest LCC-hub in Germany

 

hmm I always thought it was HHN. Probably just my assumption since it's the biggest hub for Ryanair in Germany

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Rumour dismissed (at least for the momento). From A.Net:

 

I want to share some news about MH's Northern Winter 2009 schedule:

 

Bad News

 

MH 140/141 KUL-SYD-BNE-KUL will totally be operated by 772 from the present 744. While we can applaud MH's management for sending the right equipment to serve the market, a smaller 772 rather than the big 744, this reduction in capacity raised something above red alert that MH is seriously losing market shares down under. Imagine, from [2 daily 744 KUL-SYD-KUL] to [1 daily 744 KUL-SYD-KUL and 1 daily 744 KUL-SYD-BNE-KUL] to [1 daily 744 KUL-SYD-KUL and 1 daily 772 KUL-SYD-BNE-KUL]. Worse, this flight is currently being reduced to 5 weekly until 3 November 2008.

 

MH 702/703 KUL-BKI-MNL-BKI-KUL will be terminated. No more. Could it be the impact of Cebu Pacific's new service or AK's dominance?

 

 

Good News

 

MH 203/204 KUL-JNB-CPT-JNB-KUL will be back to 744 from the current 772.

 

MH 1/4 KUL-LHR-KUL back to daily wef 3 December 2008. The service is currently running on 5 weekly until 22 November 2008 and 6 weekly from 24 November 2008 until 1 December 2008.

 

MH 5/6 KUL-FRA-KUL back to 5 weekly from the present 4 weekly wef 30 December 2008 (Now the rumour that MH may axe FRA when the frequency was reduced to 4 weekly is dismissed)

 

MH to code share with EY (Etihad Airways) on KUL-AUH-KUL, AUH-MCT-AUH, AUH-BAH-AUH, AUH-DOH-AUH. Nice, if I could recall MH also codeshare with GF on KUL-BAH-KUL and QR on KUL-DOH-KUL. Now more choices for MH's travellers to these destinations.

 

MH 14/15 KUL-FCO-KUL back to 4 weekly wef 13 December 2008.

 

MH 20/21 KUL-CDG-KUL back to daily wef 31 December 2008 (since when it is not daily?)

 

MH 94/95 KUL-TPE-LAX-TPE-KUL back to daily wef 28 December 2008.

 

MH 140/141 KUL-SYD-BNE-KUL back to daily wef 29 October 2008.

 

MH 89 NRT-KUL back to daily wef 18 December 2008.

 

MH 90/91 KUL-ARN-EWR-ARN-KUL back to 3 weekly wef 13 December 2008. Still not axed.

 

Extra flight MH 7240/7241 KUL-MEL-KUL 2 weekly from 15 November 2008 until 31 January 2009. Nice addition despite D7's entry into the market.

 

Quite surprising that many flights which supposed to be daily (LHR, CDG, SYD-BNE, NRT, TPE-LAX) were not daily all these while. Anyhow, many good news so good luck to MH.

[Juergen Witte 0]

hmm I always thought it was HHN. Probably just my assumption since it's the biggest hub for Ryanair in Germany

 

 

You are right !

One is easy to get irritated by the fact that HHN is Ryanair´s biggest base outside the British Isles (still offering quite a lot of destinations, though) ...

 

In fact CGN is the main hub (base) for TUIfly as well as the main base for Germanwings !

Complemented by some foreign LCC´s that serve CGN from their bases (e.g. Easyjet from London ...)

That makes an LCC ( and -destinations) portfolio much greater than HHN will ever offer (my expectation ... )

 

Btw.: Second largest LCC-airport is Stuttgart (STR) and third largest ist Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF) by passenger numbers and LCC-routes offered !

[BC Tam 2]

Termination of BKI-MNL-BKI - well, finally it happened

[KK Lee 5]

Termination of BKI-MNL-BKI - well, finally it happened

 

KUL-BKI-MNL is unpopular with travellers between KUL and MNL. Some of my friends preferred SIN than BKI, and SQ offered bigger aircraft, more frequency and cheaper fare. And all LCC offer direct, non stop between KUL and MNL.