MAS Northern Winter 2012 Operational Changes

[Tafe 0]

Flight bookings can only be done through agent? So i must buy all those sightseeing package or hiking excursions in order to get into the country? Now i feel like going to North Korea where you cant buy any single/return ticket without the package. Something wrong somewhere with Nepali goverment. Remember Air Arabia and AK cancel KTM few years ago?

[Naim 6]

Flight bookings can only be done through agent? ...

 

Ye lah, this stinks.

[Suzanne Goh 0]

Flight bookings can only be done through agent? So i must buy all those sightseeing package or hiking excursions in order to get into the country? Now i feel like going to North Korea where you cant buy any single/return ticket without the package. Something wrong somewhere with Nepali goverment. Remember Air Arabia and AK cancel KTM few years ago?

 

I guess the flight bookings part may be true - but to get into the country you don't need to have all that. I visited KTM three times in 2010 and 11 - very pleasant and interesting to say the least. Even flew on RA's 757 KUL-KTM one morning

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

And who could forget the trip report that follows it? If you don't mind Sue. ;p

 

http://www.sqtalk.co...read.php?t=9940

[H C Chai 4]

That's one TR I liked a lot - very informative!

 

Nepal is a nice country to visit, though I've only been to Kathmandu and Patan. Given a second chance I would spend more time there and go to the mountains!

[Tafe 0]

I guess the flight bookings part may be true - but to get into the country you don't need to have all that. I visited KTM three times in 2010 and 11 - very pleasant and interesting to say the least. Even flew on RA's 757 KUL-KTM one morning

 

Yeah i think no problem on immigration side...you bought RA's ticket with excursions? Just read your trip report. Thanks MAR for the link...

[Naim 6]

I've seen Everest from Tibet side, now need to see it from Nepal side -- that's my motivation.

[Suzanne Goh 0]

And who could forget the trip report that follows it? If you don't mind Sue. ;p

 

http://www.sqtalk.co...read.php?t=9940

 

Ah hahaha - oh that one - took me a year to get refund for the return portion.

 

 

Yeah i think no problem on immigration side...you bought RA's ticket with excursions? Just read your trip report. Thanks MAR for the link...

No , i just bought the air ticket, but it had to be done via the GSA. No excursions needed. My subsequent trips were on TG, and those i bought online. Also for the first trip i applied for a visa before hand, subsequently just got visa on arrival. Easier. It's not a difficult country to visit at all

 

That's one TR I liked a lot - very informative!

Nepal is a nice country to visit, though I've only been to Kathmandu and Patan. Given a second chance I would spend more time there and go to the mountains!

 

I would love to go to the mountains too, but city girl la.. not hardy enough to withstand. I did do the buddha air mountain flight though. Very worth the 160 USD.

[Jeffery Lim 0]

It looks like MH is adding additional flight to HKG. Did a dummy booking for the November School Hoilday and found the additional flight as below:

 

KUL- HKG 1910 - 2300 MH78 B738

HKG - KUL 0845 - 1225 MH79 B738

 

The HKG-KUL departure time is the same as the A330.

 

Any difference between parking the A330 overnight as compared to B738?

[Chris Tan 0]

Looks like CX is doing to MH on the HKG route what EK did to MH on the DXB route.

Connecting passengers are a major factor. CX and EK capture far more KUL pax than vice-versa.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Chris Tan

[flee 5]

D7 CEO, Azran Tweets:

yes, website sales will come. Initial flights fully sold out to sales agent

[Kenn Leong 0]

Is HKG not a profitable route for MH? They should send nicer planes there! Maybe a A380

[Radzi 2]

Title says it all. MH74 changed from departing at before 7pm daily to leaving KUL at almost 1am, effective Mar25. The change in timing is strange. Sure, it allows an (very) early start to the day in HKG and allows one to enjoy dinner in KUL before flying back to HKG - but on an A330 with an ancient cabin & LCC-esque flight timings?

 

Makes you wonder if this is more than just optimization of aircraft usage, given that it still leaves HKG (on the return leg) as per original schedule.

 

This is in February 2012.

 

A recipe for disaster ...... subsequently, the 'Fat Dandy' will axe it because it is not economically viable and leave to the 'red brigade' to serve the route with minimum competition from MAS .......

 

On the other hand, CX just announced that the 4th daily flt to KUL will be introduced in summer schedule (effective 25 Mar), flt number CX791/790.

 

 

 

And in July, under different management....

 

It looks like MH is adding additional flight to HKG. Did a dummy booking for the November School Hoilday and found the additional flight as below:

 

KUL- HKG 1910 - 2300 MH78 B738

HKG - KUL 0845 - 1225 MH79 B738

 

The HKG-KUL departure time is the same as the A330.

 

Any difference between parking the A330 overnight as compared to B738?

 

The timings are changed again. Just like the top managements.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Radzi

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

From Jim's blog, MH is to reduce capacity on KUL-HKG route. With the oneworld entry and all, and SQ sending their flagship A380 to HKG, with HKG being the 4th largest international destination to/fro KUL in 2011 (1.3 million passengers traffic), I just don't get it how on earth MH simply can NOT make it works.

 

http://airlineroute.net/2012/07/04/mh-hkg-aug12/

 

Kuala Lumpur – Hong Kong eff 31AUG12 Capacity cut with Boeing 737-800 replacing Airbus A330-300.

[flee 5]

I just don't get it how on earth MH simply can NOT make it works.

Hahahaha, they want to compete with LCCs but left the doors open to their real competitors, the FSCs. That is why we see this sorry state where EK/CX/SQ can make things work when MH can't on the same routes!

[Jim Liu 0]

It looks like MH is adding additional flight to HKG. Did a dummy booking for the November School Hoilday and found the additional flight as below:

 

KUL- HKG 1910 - 2300 MH78 B738

HKG - KUL 0845 - 1225 MH79 B738

 

The HKG-KUL departure time is the same as the A330.

 

Any difference between parking the A330 overnight as compared to B738?

 

At first I thought it was a new flight too, but HKG KUL timing being identical (prior to removing MH074/5), it doesn't look right.

[Radzi 2]

Malaysia Airlines is pleased to announce the introduction of yet another route to its network with the commencement of thrice weekly direct services between Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu effective 1 September 2012.

 

A two-class configured Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 144 economy class seats and 16 business class seats will be used for this Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu return service.

 

From 1 September 2012, flight MH170 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 8.35am to arrive at Kathmandu at 11.30am. The return flight MH171 departs Kathmandu at 12.20pm to arrive at Kuala Lumpur at 6.55pm.

 

For info, non-BSI B738 is configured to 16/150 seats while the BSI ones (MX-series, MLM and later) has 16/144 seats.

 

Interesting to note that KTM is UTC + 6:15.

 

In conjunction with the introduction of this new route, Malaysia Airlines is offering all-in return economy class promotional fares of only RM1200 for travel from Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru to Katmandu. Economy class travel from Kota Kinabalu and Kuching starts at only RM1878. Booking for these fares are from 9 July 2012 – 16 July 2012, valid for travel from 1 September 2012 to 31 December 2012.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Radzi

[flee 5]

Does that mean one row of economy seats removed to allow for better seat pitch?

[Josh T 0]

Does that mean one row of economy seats removed to allow for better seat pitch?

Yes. But seat pitch still tight. Needs 1 more row to be removed!

[JuliusWong 0]

Yes. But seat pitch still tight. Needs 1 more row to be removed!

In total, they need to remove two rows?

[KK Lee 5]

MH74 redeye is typical of MH to maximize aircraft utilization hours, citing similar flying hours and ‘popularity’ to South Asia but failed to consider time zone difference and competitors offer. MH75 early morning departure from HKG was intended to compete for CX723 pax but failed to realize many of them are connected from CX transpacific flights.

[Josh T 0]

Maybe this downgrade in aircraft size is in preparation for future code-shares with CX on the KUL-HKG route once they join OneWorld?

[Josh T 0]

Removing 1 more row on the new B738s (MX series and late ML series) will increase the pitch in economy of 31" to 32".

[KK Lee 5]

Maybe this downgrade in aircraft size is in preparation for future code-shares with CX on the KUL-HKG route once they join OneWorld?

 

MH and CX have been code sharing KUL-HKG for many years.

[flee 5]

Why are both MH and AK starting flights to Kathmandu at the same time?? I wonder who started it first...

All routes take a while to materialise. So this might have been a joint project during the time when the Khazanah-Tune share swap was in effect. We may see more results of the collaboration as time passes as there may be other joint projects that are still ongoing.