Foreign Carriers and Malaysia

[KK Lee 5]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:18 AM, Craig said:

Think of Chinese airlines as subsidized Middle East airlines. They want to connect China to the world and they are launching routes left and right without regards to profitability right now. Some routes are head scratcher, e.g. China Southern to Luxembourg (pax, not cargo) and another to Marseille etc. connecting some secondary/tertiary cities in China to secondary cities in Europe/Asia.

Chinese airlines are SOE, are obliged to carry out gomen policy. However, due to their domestic market size, they could afford to loss money on some foreign routes for considerable period of time.

[Craig 0]

On 1/12/2024 at 3:56 PM, kandiah k said:

Oman Air to Reduce KUL capacity & frequency 

Oman Air will reduce capacity to some South-East Asian routes including to Kuala Lumpur with the following schedule and aircraft

I am curious if they are under financial duress. Not only they are reducing KUL, but they are suspending a lot of destinations and reducing flights to a lot of destinations too. Doesn't really bode well for their entry into Oneworld this year.

[Craig 0]

please delete

Edited January 14 by Craig

[kandiah k 0]

ANA to ramp up frequencies to KUL 

ANA will increase its HND-KUL / KUL-HND service from 5x weekly to 7x weekly effective 01SEP24 

ET to increase seat capacity to KUL

ET will increase seat capacity on their ADD-SIN-KUL/KUL-SIN-ADD sector, whereby 1 of 4 flights will be operated by the B789, the remaining 3 weekly flights will be operated by their B788 effective 05JUN24

TG flight equipment changes to KUL

TG will change flight equipments to KUL effective 31MAR24 where B788 replaces B772ER for TG415/416 flights and B789 replaces B788 on TG417/418

EK to increase seat capacity to KUL 

EK will upgrade EK342/343 on the DXB-KUL/KUL-DXB route from the present B773ER to an A388 effective 01JAN24, making it twice daily A388 and 1 daily B773ER to KUL; though the upgrade has not begun to date. 

Source : aeroroutes.com

[JuliusWong 0]

On 1/14/2024 at 9:54 AM, Craig said:

I am curious if they are under financial duress. Not only they are reducing KUL, but they are suspending a lot of destinations and reducing flights to a lot of destinations too. Doesn't really bode well for their entry into Oneworld this year.

Yes, they are in significant financial duress in the recent years after splurging on new fleet, new product and services and massive network expansion without proper evaluation in order to fight with big boys next door, EK, EY, and QR a.k.a expansion at all cost. They went on buying spree a new fleet of B737max/B787 when their B737NG/A330 fleet are still very young by industry standard. They were/are just like some government-run airline which profit/loss isn't an issue until the reality hits them hard. Now losing out on South Asia markets to EK and QR, they are trying to reinventing themselves. South Asia is the main feeder for many ME airlines.

[Adam Lawrence 0]

According to this article, Air India, British Airways and Qantas set to return to KLIA in the second half of CY2024 (2HCY2024)

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/695309

[Izanee 0]

58 minutes ago, Adam Lawrence said:

According to this article, Air India, British Airways and Qantas set to return to KLIA in the second half of CY2024 (2HCY2024)

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/695309

Woah, that will be something if it is really true! I find it surprising that such a large volume hub like KUL does not get QF, and also AI services (considering many Chinese carriers, MH, AK/D7 and OD serve china from KUL). 

Edited February 5 by Izanee

[JuliusWong 0]

British Airways is given since they flew here before the pandemic only to stop due to lack of aircraft. Now they have got that sorted, time to return to Malaysia.

I won't be celebrating for Qantas, there has been few false call back then, there is no noise at airliners.net Australian Aviation thread too. Perhaps Jetstar Int'l making a return? They are short of widebody now. Maybe via A321neo? QF left KUL in 1999 due to poor passengers load. 

As for Air India case, the airlines in India haven't have a great experience with Malaysian gomen. Malaysia withdrawn its visa-free scheme arbitrarily in 2010 after claiming that over 40,000 Indians had used the routes for illegal immigration and were not traceable. Currently only IndiGo flies once daily flight from Bengaluru, with only 4% market share in India-Malaysia market. The market is dominated by AirAsia Group and Malaysia Airlines. Followed by Batik Air Malaysia.

[Izanee 0]

https://simpleflying.com/air-india-planned-international-destinations-2024/

 

well well, looks like the AI rumour might be coming true!

[Craig 0]

9 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Currently only IndiGo flies once daily flight from Bengaluru, with only 4% market share in India-Malaysia market.

Chennai.

QF maybe with their A220 PER-KUL 😂

[Craig 0]

10 hours ago, Izanee said:

Woah, that will be something if it is really true! I find it surprising that such a large volume hub like KUL does not get QF, and also AI services (considering many Chinese carriers, MH, AK/D7 and OD serve china from KUL). 

QF flies to CGK, DPS, MNL, SIN, BKK where as JQ flies to DPS, BKK, HKT, SIN. Malaysia join the ranks of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei of not having an airlink under the Qantas Group Maybe Mrs./Ms. Hudson (new QF CEO) will warm things up with MH.

[JuliusWong 0]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

QF flies to CGK, DPS, MNL, SIN, BKK where as JQ flies to DPS, BKK, HKT, SIN. Malaysia join the ranks of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei of not having an airlink under the Qantas Group Maybe Mrs./Ms. Hudson (new QF CEO) will warm things up with MH.

Also depends if the Australian Immigration relaxes its stance on Malaysians, things are still not as simple and easy as last time. Reverse coin, Malaysians should be more disciplined and have some ethics and moral to leave the country when your visa is due. Don't be selfish. I hope QF can work out some code-sharing with MH to feed each other flights. MH is the only premium carrier now in Australia-Malaysia market, heavily dominated by LCCs. Hope the figures work, if not at least give us JQ which is not desirable for the locals, but at least something better than nothing. 

[JuliusWong 0]

2 hours ago, Craig said:

Chennai.

QF maybe with their A220 PER-KUL 😂

Thanks for the correction. Apparently they used to fly from New Delhi and Bengaluru with Chennai to KUL before. 

LOL, A220 PER-KUL is a good idea since the longest flight now is 7 hr with airBaltic, but with AirAsia doubling its frequency on PER route, not sure if it will be a good start. A220/ A321/ A332/ A333 / B737...that's a good variety.

[Robert 0]

54 minutes ago, JuliusWong said:

if not at least give us JQ which is not desirable for the locals, but at least something better than nothing. 

Why do you think that? Its well  known that yields are an issue here and people prefer to pay for budget type carriers.

[flee 5]

1 hour ago, JuliusWong said:

Also depends if the Australian Immigration relaxes its stance on Malaysians, things are still not as simple and easy as last time. Reverse coin, Malaysians should be more disciplined and have some ethics and moral to leave the country when your visa is due. Don't be selfish. I hope QF can work out some code-sharing with MH to feed each other flights. MH is the only premium carrier now in Australia-Malaysia market, heavily dominated by LCCs. Hope the figures work, if not at least give us JQ which is not desirable for the locals, but at least something better than nothing. 

I think the bilateral air services agreement has artificially restricted capacity because Malaysia's airlines have more or less hit the quota. But Australian carriers have plenty of the quota left to launch services. I think in the past, Australian carriers are uncompetitive due to high ticket prices and the soft product is inferior to Malaysian/Asian carriers. If QF revisit Malaysia, they have to come up with something special.

[jahur 0]

This is a pretty good start especially with QF. Now looking to see if LH and AF has the appetite to come down back.

[JuliusWong 0]

1 hour ago, Robert said:

Why do you think that? Its well  known that yields are an issue here and people prefer to pay for budget type carriers.

The locals here I mean the Aussie. Despite them hating Jetstar like how most Malaysians hate AirAsia, people are still buying their tickets. Haha! 

[Robert 0]

1 hour ago, JuliusWong said:

The locals here I mean the Aussie. Despite them hating Jetstar like how most Malaysians hate AirAsia, people are still buying their tickets. Haha! 

got it. Do we really want the Jetstar bogan brigade here LOL

Edited February 6 by Robert

[Adam Lawrence 0]

Seems that AI's low coast subsidiary will be flying to KUL first ahead of its parent company:

https://twitter.com/svsvijai/status/1745024737317925151

Madurai-KL beginning 31 March 2024

[Craig 0]

9 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Also depends if the Australian Immigration relaxes its stance on Malaysians, things are still not as simple and easy as last time.

It's not as bad as 2022. Much better now. Still not 10s approval like it used to be but if further documents are required, it's down to about a week now. And I hope that they will keep a record of your ETA application since it's done on the app now. So they should know who previously applied from the same e-mail/biometric and that should make things much quicker.

8 hours ago, jahur said:

This is a pretty good start especially with QF. Now looking to see if LH and AF has the appetite to come down back.

AF for some reason, like QF, can't make KUL work. Maybe with their 789s it might work. They lack of a suitable aircraft for KUL last time (343/346/744 for LH and 772 for AF). AF has 10x flights to BKK and SIN (IIRC, AF pulled out of BKK not too long ago too but has since returned). One of the big problems with East Asia flights is aircraft usage and crew rotation. Crew gets 2 days off here and most flights require an extended ground time. The much higher yield TATL market requires 1 night for crew and immediate turnaround for most flights.

5 hours ago, Robert said:

got it. Do we really want the Jetstar bogan brigade here LOL

Cenang will be the new Kuta. What's there not to like 🤣

[Chris Tan 0]

2 hours ago, Craig said:

AF for some reason, like QF, can't make KUL work. Maybe with their 789s it might work. They lack of a suitable aircraft for KUL last time (343/346/744 for LH and 772 for AF). AF has 10x flights to BKK and SIN (IIRC, AF pulled out of BKK not too long ago too but has since returned). One of the big problems with East Asia flights is aircraft usage and crew rotation. Crew gets 2 days off here and most flights require an extended ground time. The much higher yield TATL market requires 1 night for crew and immediate turnaround for most flights.

AF seems to be very happy with its QF partnership for its Australian connections. They've even negotiated QF lounge access in SIN, so I doubt they're in a rush to build up their partnership with MH.

KUL-CDG might not be large enough a market to sustain both AF and MH, so it can't be on the wishlist for both carriers.

[Izanee 0]

AF always had a problem with KUL and MH. In fact, they were the ones blocking MH’s entry to Skyteam which was supported by KLM. 

in the end, AF wanted GA and VN to join them, but no MH. 
 

same with QF - sponsored MH’s entry to OW then doesn’t want to work with MH
 

[KK Lee 5]

29 minutes ago, Izanee said:

AF always had a problem with KUL and MH. In fact, they were the ones blocking MH’s entry to Skyteam which was supported by KLM. 

in the end, AF wanted GA and VN to join them, but no MH. 
 

same with QF - sponsored MH’s entry to OW then doesn’t want to work with MH
 

Guess QF, AF, etc remembered MH relationship with UA.

[Adam Lawrence 0]

It seems that the possibility for QF to return to KUL this year looks very promising.

In the slide no 19 of MAHB 2023 financial statement mentioned that Qantas will be flying to KUL from SYD with 4 weekly frequency in 2024: https://mahb.listedcompany.com/misc/presentation/2023/2Q23_vF.pdf

Another notable return in 2024 are BA from LHR, AI from DEL and BOM as well as LH from FRA.

The real highlight is that KUL may receive services from IB and AY in year 2025.

 

 

[Craig 0]

11 hours ago, Chris Tan said:

AF seems to be very happy with its QF partnership for its Australian connections. They've even negotiated QF lounge access in SIN, so I doubt they're in a rush to build up their partnership with MH.

KUL-CDG might not be large enough a market to sustain both AF and MH, so it can't be on the wishlist for both carriers.

I highly doubt AF will partner up with MH for AU-EU services. Although I am curious if they partner up with SQ for their Southeast Asia-EU flights.

4 hours ago, Adam Lawrence said:

It seems that the possibility for QF to return to KUL this year looks very promising.

In the slide no 19 of MAHB 2023 financial statement mentioned that Qantas will be flying to KUL from SYD with 4 weekly frequency in 2024: https://mahb.listedcompany.com/misc/presentation/2023/2Q23_vF.pdf

Another notable return in 2024 are BA from LHR, AI from DEL and BOM as well as LH from FRA.

The real highlight is that KUL may receive services from IB and AY in year 2025.

Caveat on the first page 🤣

Quote

No representation or warranty (either express or implied) is given by or on behalf of MAHB or its related corporations (including without limitation, their respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, partners, associates and advisers), as to the quality, accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this presentation, or that reasonable care has been taken in compiling or preparing the information.

I highly doubt BA/LH will launch KUL this summer. It's too late to announce any new intercontinental routes for summer now. Most airlines that aren't MH/Chinese carriers usually announces their new longhaul expansion 6+ months ahead of launch with lots of marketing. BA announced their return to KUL in September/October the year before their May launch last time. KUL, unlike BKK, isn't a winter destination, so I guess we can count BA/LH out for Winter 2024 launch as well. So the best we can hope for now is Summer 2025 return

AY did announced KUL but I can't recall when. It was canceled and swept under the rug. IB will be a huge surprise. Can't imagine they'd use their 359 to KUL.

AI is highly likely given that India's economy is growing and we gave Indian citizens a visa waiver until the end of this year. Maybe get Vistara at it too.

A bit more skeptical about Chinese carriers but Chinese carriers are adding more flights to KUL. CZ is 4x daily CAN and FM is 2-3x daily PVG now. GJ (Loong Air) also started flights from HGH. FM will make it 4x daily to PVG and 3U will launch 1x daily TFU-KUL come summer.

MAHB incentives of landing fee waiver/ complimentary KUL office rental doesn't seem to be working in the 00s. Not too sure why they think it'd be working now.