MAS Privatisation

[Riza 0]

DOH is more premium heavy than JPY i guess.

[JuliusWong 0]

6 hours ago, Adam Lawrence said:

MALAYSIA AIRLINES NW23 INTERNATIONAL CHANGES / 737 MAX 8 NETWORK – 04AUG23

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230804-mhnw23int

Also, Tashkent will be scheduled, all year round service instead of charter flights: https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230803-mhnw23tas

Gonna fight with Batik Air for Tashkent. Just a matter of time D7 will join the party. Uzbekistan Airlines currently flies A321neo, Batik Air could be using their A330-300 and MH with their A330-200, hopefully the load is sustainable for all three players.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES NW23 INTERNATIONAL CHANGES / 737 MAX 8 NETWORK – 04AUG23 (Noticeable changes in bold)
Published at 0110GMT 04AUG23

Malaysia Airlines in the last few hours gradually filed service changes to its Northern winter 2023/24 season, including the filing of planned Boeing 737 MAX 8 operation. Although the 174-seater 737 MAX 8 (C12Y162) is scheduled with first flight on 29OCT23, actual first flight may commence at earlier date.
 
Following changes is based on listing as of 0100GMT 04AUG23.

1.  Kuala Lumpur – Bangalore eff 29OCT23 11 weekly 737-800 service maintained, instead of previously filed 7 weekly
2. Kuala Lumpur – Colombo eff 29OCT23 7 weekly 737-800 service maintained, instead of previously filed 5 weekly
3. Kuala Lumpur – Doha eff 13NOV23 1 of 2 daily MH160/161 A350-900XWB replaces A330-300
4. Kuala Lumpur – Hong Kong eff 29OCT23 A330-200 continues to operate MH072/073 on Sundays (Overall 2 daily 737-800/A330-200)
5. Kuala Lumpur – Kochi eff 29OCT23 Increase from 6 weekly in NS23 to 7, 737-800
6. Kuala Lumpur – Manila eff 04DEC23 1MH806/807 737 MAX 8 replaces -800 (Overall 15 weekly)
7. Kuala Lumpur – Medan Kualanamu eff 29OCT23 14 weekly 737-800 service maintained, instead of previously filed 10 weekly
8. Kuala Lumpur – Mumbai eff 29OCT23 MH194/195 A330-300 service maintained (Overall 1 daily A330-300, 3 weekly 737-800)
9. Kuala Lumpur – Phuket eff 29OCT23 1 of 2 daily 737 MAX 8 replaces -800
10. Kuala Lumpur – Shanghai Pu Dong Selected weeks scheduled 9 weekly instead of 10, A330-200/-300
11. Kuala Lumpur – Surabaya eff 29OCT23 10 weekly 737-800 service maintained, instead of previously filed 7 weekly
12. Kuala Lumpur – Taipei Taoyuan eff 29OCT23 1 daily 737-800/A330-200/A330-300 (Previous: 1 daily A330-200/-300)
13. Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo Haneda 5 weekly A350-900XWB service remains unavailable for reservation
14. Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo Narita 04FEB24 – 03MAR24 A330-300 replaces A350-900XWB, 1 daily (12 weekly from 25FEB24)
15. Kuala Lumpur – Xiamen eff 29OCT23 3 weekly 737-800 service maintained, instead of previously filed 2 weekly

Domestically the 737 MAX 8 is also scheduled on following routes:

1. Kuala Lumpur – Kota Kinabalu
2. Kuala Lumpur – Kuching 
3. Kuala Lumpur – Miri
4. Kuala Lumpur – Penang

Previously reported changes:

1. Kuala Lumpur – Melbourne 29DEC23 – 02FEB24 Increase from 14 to 15 weekly, A330-300
2. Kuala Lumpur –  Sapporo New Chitose 05DEC23 – 30DEC23 A330-300 operates every 5 days
3. Kuala Lumpur – Sydney 03NOV23 – 03FEB24 Increase from 14 to 15 weekly (16 weekly 19DEC23 – 30DEC23), A330-300
4. Kuala Lumpur – Tashkent eff 07NOV23 1 weekly A330-200

From the schedule, one can see MH really can use at least ten more A330-300 for their India/Japan/China routes.

Edited August 4, 2023 by JuliusWong

[Robert 0]

1 hour ago, Riza said:

DOH is more premium heavy than JPY i guess.

I believe that Qatar are only operating 1x per day with an MH codeshare taking the 2nd slot. 

[Craig 0]

16 hours ago, Robert said:

I believe that Qatar are only operating 1x per day with an MH codeshare taking the 2nd slot. 

Qatar is operating 1x where as MH is operating 2x with all three flights having relatively short turnaround at destination to maximize aircraft usage. This is the same as 2019 frequency (although QR has 3-4 additional weekly flights during summer) but slightly lower capacity because MH doesn't have any 77Ws.

[Robert 0]

13 hours ago, Craig said:

Qatar is operating 1x where as MH is operating 2x with all three flights having relatively short turnaround at destination to maximize aircraft usage. This is the same as 2019 frequency (although QR has 3-4 additional weekly flights during summer) but slightly lower capacity because MH doesn't have any 77Ws.

Thx, I had it in my mind that Qatar used to have more all year round. Perhaps I mixed it up with Changi. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Robert

[Craig 0]

9 hours ago, Robert said:

Thx, I had it in my mind that Qatar used to have more all year round. Perhaps I mixed it up with Changi. 

IIRC, QR also flies 3x to SIN but KUL gets 3-4 more weekly services with QR during their summer seasonal service in 2019. I don't recall QR doing more than 3x service to SIN (same as KUL).

[Riza 0]

Tashkent is a surprise addition to MH network.

[Pall 0]

1 minute ago, Riza said:

Tashkent is a surprise addition to MH network.

It's a seasonal charter with MH8xxx flight number. 

[Riza 0]

I thought once QR's dispute with Airbus is settled, more 350s are coming their way, both thru repair of existing aircraft plus new delivery which then make way for MH to stop operating 2 out of 3 daily DOH rotations. And it was not the case so far.

[Chris Tan 0]

2 hours ago, Riza said:

I thought once QR's dispute with Airbus is settled, more 350s are coming their way, both thru repair of existing aircraft plus new delivery which then make way for MH to stop operating 2 out of 3 daily DOH rotations. And it was not the case so far.

There are plenty of markets that need more capacity. OW hubs like KUL, TYO, HEL and MAD can be covered by partner airlines as a stopgap. 

[Craig 0]

5 hours ago, Riza said:

I thought once QR's dispute with Airbus is settled, more 350s are coming their way, both thru repair of existing aircraft plus new delivery which then make way for MH to stop operating 2 out of 3 daily DOH rotations. And it was not the case so far.

I think we are seeing more of QR's OW partner taking over QR's flight. AY taking over CPH/ARN/HEL (I can't remember which station) for QR, IB for MAD, and coming 2024, most likely JL for QR's HND-DOH unless they plan to run 2 flights within an hour or two of each other. Now if they can resume DOH-PEN and serve that 1 daily DOH-KUL, that'd be much better.

[Alif A. F. 0]

On 8/6/2023 at 9:50 AM, Riza said:

Tashkent is a surprise addition to MH network.

Yes, I am quite surprised too. And this would be the first MH destination in Central Asia, no?

[Craig 0]

MH's updated B737 Max 8 operations for NW23. I understand they are scheduling flights to say PEN/KCH/HKT/CGK for crew familiarization and if anything goes wrong enough, they can reschedule / cancel but are there plans for them to fly these planes to the Indian subcontinent? Or do they want the slightly higher premium capacity for those routes and maybe take a cut on cargo?

[jahur 0]

35 minutes ago, Craig said:

MH's updated B737 Max 8 operations for NW23. I understand they are scheduling flights to say PEN/KCH/HKT/CGK for crew familiarization and if anything goes wrong enough, they can reschedule / cancel but are there plans for them to fly these planes to the Indian subcontinent? Or do they want the slightly higher premium capacity for those routes and maybe take a cut on cargo?

They are primed for south asia with the exception of Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, Kathmandu being served with mix widebody pairing. Probably will see the max being slotted in there next year. 

In the old days mumbai and delhi were served by b772 so not much of an issue. But when the b738 took over it is an occasional occurrence where operations have decide whether to offload some passenger bags or courier cargo to meet the max take off weight criteria. Then there's the issue of overbooking. Mh for now tries to commit a333 flights for mumbai and on adhoc/seasonal basis for dhaka and delhi. Now we can only hope with the a330neo coming theu can at least put mandatory 1x widebody flight per day on those sectors.

[Craig 0]

14 hours ago, jahur said:

In the old days mumbai and delhi were served by b772 so not much of an issue. But when the b738 took over it is an occasional occurrence where operations have decide whether to offload some passenger bags or courier cargo to meet the max take off weight criteria. Then there's the issue of overbooking. Mh for now tries to commit a333 flights for mumbai and on adhoc/seasonal basis for dhaka and delhi. Now we can only hope with the a330neo coming theu can at least put mandatory 1x widebody flight per day on those sectors.

It currently shows 6x A333 weekly flights for BOM and DEL for NW23. I am curious if they are also restricted on capacity due to bilateral capacity cap. Shockingly, only Indigo flies to KUL with once a day MAA-KUL flight with a very inconvenient schedule.

[jahur 0]

29 minutes ago, Craig said:

It currently shows 6x A333 weekly flights for BOM and DEL for NW23. I am curious if they are also restricted on capacity due to bilateral capacity cap. Shockingly, only Indigo flies to KUL with once a day MAA-KUL flight with a very inconvenient schedule.

Capacity cap is still okay even if they upgrade to full widebody deployment. Main issue is they cant add any more additional flights unless there's some additional GOV to GOV thingy in slot negotiations. Does not help India is now trying to gatekeep its own carriers from foreign incursion especially in regards to the Gulfs and new upcoming Saudi.

On an additional note we may see potential issues with Mumbai and Delhi with the b737-8 deployment whereas the cabin product is a downgrade from the b737-800 MH uses. With the 1x daily A330 and 1x daily B737-8, the product gap between the two can be significant and the business class customers on these sectors are known to be very picky on the hard product. The original plan was to be the Max 10 or 737-10 plying on these two sectors with the A330, but with Boeing being on limbo with the certification we may not see them until late 2026. The 737-10 config that MH preplanned was to be 16 flat bed and 180 economy seats and apart from flying it to Mumbai, Delhi it will also be deployed to Perth.

[JuliusWong 0]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:50 AM, Riza said:

I thought once QR's dispute with Airbus is settled, more 350s are coming their way, both thru repair of existing aircraft plus new delivery which then make way for MH to stop operating 2 out of 3 daily DOH rotations. And it was not the case so far.

Qatar Airways is facing some severe capacity issue even after the dispute with Airbus is now out of the way. They are only getting the seven A350-1000 that were already built and stored, pending the lawsuit. Their remaining 14 A350-1000 will not come until later part of Q3, 2024. Between now and Q3, 2024, Qatar Airways needs to shore up their capacity with more leased airframe or outsource some destinations/ flights to its partner airlines. The aging 14 A330s and three ex-Virgin Australia and four ex-CX B77Ws will be staying longer than planned.

Their A321neo will only due now at 2026 instead of the current quarter, if the lawsuit did not happened. To backfill the short haul fleet, they have taken delivery of nine B737MAX-8, mostly S7 Airlines NTUs and another 25 B737MAX-10 pending.

[JuliusWong 0]

38 minutes ago, jahur said:

Capacity cap is still okay even if they upgrade to full widebody deployment. Main issue is they cant add any more additional flights unless there's some additional GOV to GOV thingy in slot negotiations. Does not help India is now trying to gatekeep its own carriers from foreign incursion especially in regards to the Gulfs and new upcoming Saudi.

On an additional note we may see potential issues with Mumbai and Delhi with the b737-8 deployment whereas the cabin product is a downgrade from the b737-800 MH uses. With the 1x daily A330 and 1x daily B737-8, the product gap between the two can be significant and the business class customers on these sectors are known to be very picky on the hard product. The original plan was to be the Max 10 or 737-10 plying on these two sectors with the A330, but with Boeing being on limbo with the certification we may not see them until late 2026. The 737-10 config that MH preplanned was to be 16 flat bed and 180 economy seats and apart from flying it to Mumbai, Delhi it will also be deployed to Perth.

I always believe that MH could use some more A333 in their fleet, even if they can't afford brand new A350 or B787. Actually all their South Asia routes can support A333s operation with at least twice daily flight, some destinations can even support up to for flights per day. Their current fleet of 15 A333s are really small to support their Asia Pacific routes since APAC routes are almost always heavily loaded due to lack of airport capacity in the region, air traffic rights because local gomen wants to protect their own airlines. It doesn't help also that AirAsia X, now Batik Air are now in the pictures and they are splitting the current allowed capacity and rights. AirAsia X is also currently sitting on some traffic rights but not utilising them. The Malaysian gomen and India gomen aren't in their best terms as well (no thanks to Tun M's previous acidic comment), it will be hard for MH to shore up its flight on destinations in India.

From economic and demographic POV, Malaysia and Singapore have the largest Indian diaspora in SEA, outside of India itself. MH and SQ have almost the same number of destinations except for Ahmedabad and Kolkata. SQ has an upper hand with newer fleet and bigger bilateral capacity, also because SQ has more frequency to Australia/NZ. However, in terms of secondary large cities, MH has nothing to offer. SQ offers five via Scoot. In the next decade, India could be the next superpower, thanks to China-US political and economy war (yes, doing in India is tricky and comes with its quirk), MH should look closely at this space.

Malaysia Airlines:

1. Bangalore   
2. Chennai   
3. Delhi
4. Hyderabad 
5. Kochi
6. Mumbai

Singapore Airlines Group:

1. Ahmedabad    
2. Bangalore  
3. Chennai
4. Delhi
5. Hyderabad
6. Kochi
7. Kolkata
8. Mumbai
9. Amritsar (via Scoot)
10. Coimbatore (via Scoot)
11. Thiruvananthapuram (via Scoot)
12. Tiruchirapalli (via Scoot)
13. Visakhapatnam (via Scoot)

[Craig 0]

22 hours ago, jahur said:

Capacity cap is still okay even if they upgrade to full widebody deployment. Main issue is they cant add any more additional flights unless there's some additional GOV to GOV thingy in slot negotiations. Does not help India is now trying to gatekeep its own carriers from foreign incursion especially in regards to the Gulfs and new upcoming Saudi.

On an additional note we may see potential issues with Mumbai and Delhi with the b737-8 deployment whereas the cabin product is a downgrade from the b737-800 MH uses. With the 1x daily A330 and 1x daily B737-8, the product gap between the two can be significant and the business class customers on these sectors are known to be very picky on the hard product. The original plan was to be the Max 10 or 737-10 plying on these two sectors with the A330, but with Boeing being on limbo with the certification we may not see them until late 2026. The 737-10 config that MH preplanned was to be 16 flat bed and 180 economy seats and apart from flying it to Mumbai, Delhi it will also be deployed to Perth.

I remember at one point MH traded their LHR slots in exchange for more landing rights to India (for MH 7/8, 3rd daily flight). 

MH's main competitors are all mostly flying flat bed from India-Southeast Asia / Australia (SQ, CX, AI, QF, and to a certain extent TG but TG's SEA/ANZ network isn't quite there yet) and we have MH flying a lot of regional business class between the two. I assume when the A339s come onboard, the A332s will be retired first but the A333s will keep flying for a while until they order more planes (A359/Ks?). Those current A333s are good enough for regional/India/PER routes.

[sweekee 0]

39 minutes ago, Craig said:

A339s come onboard, the A332s will be retired first

Nope,A332 get 5 more years contract extended.

[Robert 0]

1 hour ago, sweekee said:

Nope,A332 get 5 more years contract extended.

Have recently seen some pretty poor J class reviews of this cabin on various groups and another 5 yerars of that crap cabin doesn't do the reputation of the airline any good.

[sweekee 0]

19 minutes ago, Robert said:

Have recently seen some pretty poor J class reviews of this cabin on various groups and another 5 yerars of that crap cabin doesn't do the reputation of the airline any good.

3 of them will return to lessor in 2H if not extend.For now MH facing serious wb shortage and they have no choice.

[Craig 0]

5 hours ago, sweekee said:

Nope,A332 get 5 more years contract extended.

I hope they are doing regionals like SIN, CGK, BKK, DPS and at most MNL/HAN?

[sweekee 0]

42 minutes ago, Craig said:

I hope they are doing regionals like SIN, CGK, BKK, DPS and at most MNL/HAN?

TPE AKL JED MED BKK PER

[Riza 0]

EY+ seats on the 332 is pretty comfortable.