B737 Operations in Malaysia

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Guys,

 

To commemorate the delivery of MH 737-800s in February,i've decided to create this topic.Should you have any infos,do post it here.

 

Alright,here's mine:

 

History of 737 operations in Malaysia

 

1969

Comets replaced by five B737-100s.First flight to Bali.

 

1972

23rd August-First B737-200 delivered.

 

1974

8th February-B737 Award given by Boeing for dispatch realibility.

 

1977

4th December-Flight MH653 from Penang to Kuala Lumpur hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang,Johor kiling all 100

people onboard the 737 aircraft.

 

1979

10th Nov-Boeing award for outstanding performance in the operations of B737s in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

 

1985

8th June-MAS took delivery of a new 737 costing RM120 million.

 

1990

9th July-RM2.8 million computer-based training programme introduced for B737-400 pilots reducing conversion

training from 5 weeks to 15 days.

 

1991

15th November-The crew of MH192 safely delivered a baby boy on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu,a first

for the airline.

 

1992

6th March-MAS received its fourth Boeing award for dispatch reliability of its B737 fleet.

 

4th May-Delivery of 52 B737-400/500 aircraft ordered.

 

14th May-Another 17 units of B737-400 ordered,making MAS the largest customer of the aircraft in the world.

 

17th July-First B737-500 aircraft delivered.

 

Extracted from "Airborne-The evolution and birth of Malaysia Airlines",by Ranjit Gill.

 

From here,we could see that:

-MAS received the Boeing award for dispatch reliability for the B737 fleet 4 times

-MAS also received Boeing award for outstanding performance in the operations of B737 in Malaysia and Southeast Asia in 1979.

 

Other infos:

-36 B737-4H6 and 1 B737-46J still in service with MH.

-MH had leased 2 B737-800 from Travel Service Airlines of Czech Republic (OK-TVC & OK-TVD) for a period.

-MH announces the order of 35 B737-8H6 at Farnborough Air Show 2008.

-All MH B737-5H6 fleets are now decommissioned.

-MH also operates 1 B737-7H6 BBJ,and the aircraft is now operated by Royal Malaysian Air Force.

-Besides than MH,the other B737 operator is AirAsia,operating mixed B737-300 aircrafts.Now all 737-300 aircraft in AirAsia had been transferred to Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia .

 

Correct me if any of the infos above were inaccurate.

[fendy 2]

MH also operated 2x B737-3H6F, 9M-MZA and 9M-MZB

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

MH also operated 2x B737-3H6F, 9M-MZA and 9M-MZB

 

Alright,another useful info

Thanks a lot,Fendy

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

1992

14th May-Another 17 units of B737-400 ordered,making MAS the largest customer of the aircraft in the world.

 

You mean largest customer outside of America? Since Southwest uses nothing but 737s

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

You mean largest customer outside of America? Since Southwest uses nothing but 737s

 

Yes,if i'm not mistaken.MH is the largest operator of 737 outside America.Southwest don't use all 737 fleet;they also operated 727 in their fleet before the 727s are replaced.However,Southwest is still the largest 737 operator in the world.

[Ryan Soh 3]

THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS

 

Hope some MW-ers can dust off their old prints and scan them for us to see.

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Check these photos:

 

Malaysia-Singapore Airlines B737-112 (9M-AOT)

 

Malaysia Airlines B737-2H6/Adv (9M-MBM)

 

Malaysian Airline System B737-2H6/Adv (9M-MBE,with 'Official Carrier PATA 86 Kuala Lumpur' logo)

 

Malaysia Airlines B737-5H6 (9M-MFI)

 

Malaysia Airlines B737-4Y0 (9M-MJI)

 

MASTAR B737-7H6 BBJ (9M-BBJ)

 

All photos are courtesy of Airliners.net.

Edited January 31, 2009 by Tamizi Hj Tamby

[Walter Sim 1]

interesting facts!

 

Why did MH remove the 735 from their fleet?

[S V Choong 4]

interesting facts!

 

Why did MH remove the 735 from their fleet?

I think they were leased in a/c from ILFC or GECAS. The 735 has since been in service with airlines in Europe and some are now in South America with Aerolineas Argentina.

 

From what I remember the early MAS 737-400 bearing rego 9M-MJ* and 9M-ML* series were leased in birds too before MAS' very own 9M-MM* and MQ* series arrived.

[Gilbert Chung Siang Hui 0]

If my memory serves me right, flights to SBW used to be operated by the 737-500. It seemed that SBW back then could not handle 737-400...that was untill SBW runway was extended and then -400 could operate without restrictions. Then the -500 became redundant and that was why they remove the -500 from MH fleet.

 

Interesting fact, in a water evacuation -400 allow pax to evacuate from the rear doors...but as for the -500, due to the lenght which is shorter, only over wings exits and the front doors are used for evacuation.

 

I hope my facts are right...cheers!

[Fairul 0]

i remember MH's ex 735 used to fly between KCH-SBW...

[Mushrif A 3]

Further trivias:

 

An MH 732 lost one main undercarriage on a ferry flight from JHB to KUL-Subang. I believe the whole wheel came off during approach and landed - fortunately - in an oil palm plantation. Plane landed at Subang in the early evening and blocked the sole runway till next day.

 

Also, the first private 737 registered/ based in M'sia, a -300 operated for Country Heights, 9M-CHG.

 

A multi-stop same plane direct daily flight between PEN - BKI: MH2610 op by 734 circa early yr 2000-2003.

Routing was PEN-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. You depart PEN at 08:05 and land at BKI at 16:10 - an 8hr 5 min journey.

 

(Given the many take-offs and landings, this, statistically-speaking, is probably also the most risky method to get to BKI from PEN via a scheduled commercial flight.)

 

 

Questions:

- did MH ever operate a combi version of the 732?

- how many of MH's 732 had integral "airstairs" for Door 1?

 

 

 

Interesting fact, in a water evacuation -400 allow pax to evacuate from the rear doors...but as for the -500, due to the lenght which is shorter, only over wings exits and the front doors are used for evacuation.

 

I hope my facts are right...cheers!

 

Yes, you are right. The MH 735 safety card explicitly showed that the rear main doors were not to be used in a water landing.

 

[Rozhan 0]

A multi-stop same plane direct daily flight between PEN - BKI: MH2610 op by 734 circa early yr 2000-2003.

Routing was PEN-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. You depart PEN at 08:05 and land at BKI at 16:10 - an 8hr 5 min journey.

 

I took the reverse routing BKI-LBU-MYY...terminating in KCH. The greatest hassle was everyone had to disembark at MYY for immigration formalities (first point of entry in Sarawak I suppose), and back to the waiting aircraft. I think many passengers were inconvinienced by such as those terminating at KCH can just do it in KCH and those onward to KUL should not be required to go through Sarawak immigration.

Edited January 31, 2009 by Rozhan

[zeqa 1]

I like those cute looking B737s... I actually follow some of them. Usually flights from BWN- KUL. Let me see if I can find the pics I took about last last two years.

 

 

[Kenneth T 0]

I once flew on board the B737-500s to BKI....

 

 

Edited February 1, 2009 by Kenneth T

[Nik H. 3]

Further trivias:

 

An MH 732 lost one main undercarriage on a ferry flight from JHB to KUL-Subang. I believe the whole wheel came off during approach and landed - fortunately - in an oil palm plantation. Plane landed at Subang in the early evening and blocked the sole runway till next day.

 

Also, the first private 737 registered/ based in M'sia, a -300 operated for Country Heights, 9M-CHG.

 

Questions:

- did MH ever operate a combi version of the 732?

- how many of MH's 732 had integral "airstairs" for Door 1?

 

A B732 did lose one of its main gear assembly out of JHB.

 

CHG was rumoured to have a putting 'green' on board.

 

Combi....in its very early days. 2 aircraft i think.

 

9M-MBK (B737-200ADV) used to have an airstairs but was deactivated for most part of its life. It also had an INS system and an auxilliary tank. It was initially planned to be used as a ' once in a while' VIP aircraft for the government but eventually that too did not happen.

 

The B737-500 is my favorite B737 series, having flown the -200,300,400 and the 500. Its the size of the -200, but with the power of the -400. Occasionally to relieve boredom, we set full power on take off and it hit the skies at almost 6000fpm climb rate, much to the amazement of ATC. A real tonic for speedfreaks. However, it was not as flexible on approach as the flap extension speeds were lower than the B734, so some care needs to be taken when charging dwn on a hi-speed approach.

 

It was used on the longer sectors then but eventually it was phased out as it imposed aircraft rotation nightmare when intergrated into the scheduling system.

 

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

A multi-stop same plane direct daily flight between PEN - BKI: MH2610 op by 734 circa early yr 2000-2003.

Routing was PEN-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. You depart PEN at 08:05 and land at BKI at 16:10 - an 8hr 5 min journey.

 

Wow!...our very own kangaroo hop!...I remember that flight also...I used to take it because the then "super saver" between KCH-BKI was only available on this route...once i did KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI only to return to LBU due to bad weather and the plane needed refueling....hahaha!

[S V Choong 4]

The B737-500 is my favorite B737 series, having flown the -200,300,400 and the 500. Its the size of the -200, but with the power of the -400. Occasionally to relieve boredom, we set full power on take off and it hit the skies at almost 6000fpm climb rate, much to the amazement of ATC. A real tonic for speedfreaks. However, it was not as flexible on approach as the flap extension speeds were lower than the B734, so some care needs to be taken when charging dwn on a hi-speed approach.

 

It was used on the longer sectors then but eventually it was phased out as it imposed aircraft rotation nightmare when intergrated into the scheduling system.

I suppose this is the reason why the 737-5H6s were not used for BKI-TWU, BKI-SDK or SDK-TWU routes? I would have thought the 737-500 was more appropriate for the short runway of the former Tawau airport. Since it is roughly the same size of the B737-200 she replaced. Instead MAS utilised their B737-400s for TWU-BKI, BKI-SDK and TWU-SDK routes!

 

[H C Chai 4]

A multi-stop same plane direct daily flight between PEN - BKI: MH2610 op by 734 circa early yr 2000-2003.

Routing was PEN-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. You depart PEN at 08:05 and land at BKI at 16:10 - an 8hr 5 min journey.

 

My sister was on that flight once, from KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. The journey took 4hrs and she was served only 3 cups of orange juice - one per sector.

 

A few of my relatives (all in their late 60's and 70's) took this flight from KCH to BKI in the early 00's. They got confused and got off at LBU and the plane took off for BKI without them. My poor cousin who was waiting at BKI got some b******ing because my relatives had been waiting at LBU for hours thinking that they were in BKI.

[Sung 0]

The 732 lost its main gear and found somewhere in subang jaya. It was right main and it was after landing gear change at jhr.

[Alan B. 5]

CHG was rumoured to have a putting 'green' on board.

 

 

 

9M-MBK (B737-200ADV) used to have an airstairs but was deactivated for most part of its life. It also had an INS system and an auxilliary tank. It was initially planned to be used as a ' once in a while' VIP aircraft for the government but eventually that too did not happen.

 

Confirmed there was a putting green, located in the second cabin in the overwing area. Passengers and crew were also not allowed to wear shoes on board. Instead we had to put on bedroom slippers made by Bally!

 

 

MBK was the same aircraft that we used every Tuesday for the only weekly flight to Canton. If I remember correctly MBK was owned by Petronas or Bank Bumiputra.

[E Faizal 0]

Confirmed there was a putting green, located in the second cabin in the overwing area. Passengers and crew were also not allowed to wear shoes on board. Instead we had to put on bedroom slippers made by Bally!

 

 

MBK was the same aircraft that we used every Tuesday for the only weekly flight to Canton. If I remember correctly MBK was owned by Petronas or Bank Bumiputra.

 

Perrrghh.!!! It is sound 'giler' luxury...

 

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

My sister was on that flight once, from KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI. The journey took 4hrs and she was served only 3 cups of orange juice - one per sector.

 

A few of my relatives (all in their late 60's and 70's) took this flight from KCH to BKI in the early 00's. They got confused and got off at LBU and the plane took off for BKI without them. My poor cousin who was waiting at BKI got some b******ing because my relatives had been waiting at LBU for hours thinking that they were in BKI.

 

Oh dear...Imagine that?? Pity those people....

 

You know something, with 3 cups of OJ by the time you get to BKI your tummy usually dont feel right...

 

Confirmed there was a putting green, located in the second cabin in the overwing area. Passengers and crew were also not allowed to wear shoes on board. Instead we had to put on bedroom slippers made by Bally!

 

 

MBK was the same aircraft that we used every Tuesday for the only weekly flight to Canton. If I remember correctly MBK was owned by Petronas or Bank Bumiputra.

 

I believe this was what they meant by "jet-setting" in the "golden age of travel" huh?

 

Just curious, weren't there any worries that the golf balls might puncture a hole in the windows and cause decompression???

Edited February 1, 2009 by Kenneth Chong WT

[Alan B. 5]

Just curious, weren't there any worries that the golf balls might puncture a hole in the windows and cause decompression???

 

Don't worry no swing involved..... putting is just tapping the ball into the hole.

[Radzi 2]

The B737-500 is my favorite B737 series, having flown the -200,300,400 and the 500. Its the size of the -200, but with the power of the -400. Occasionally to relieve boredom, we set full power on take off and it hit the skies at almost 6000fpm climb rate, much to the amazement of ATC. A real tonic for speedfreaks. However, it was not as flexible on approach as the flap extension speeds were lower than the B734, so some care needs to be taken when charging dwn on a hi-speed approach.

 

I think the -500 was a bit underpowered as it was powered by the 18.5k engines. The 400 and 300F were powered by the 22k engines. I remember doing the MH 6010/6011 newspaper run, heavy to KCH, half full to BKI then empty going back to SZB. The empty -300F was a rocket.

 

About the flap limit for the -500, if I'm not mistaken Flaps 1 and 5 limit was 230 kts unlike the -400 which goes to 250 kts.