MAS Privatisation

[KK Lee 5]

3 hours ago, Robert said:

what was the outstanding payment for ?

AI channeled pax to MH to LAX, AUS, etc. 

[Craig 0]

MAG will finally end its agreement with Brahims after 26 years of "partnership". 

Quote

MAG said it will continue to explore diverse strategies to ensure business sustainability, which include partnering with “reputable food and beverage (F&B) providers sharing a commitment to premium passenger experiences and efficient in-flight services at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Terminal 1”[...]

“During this transition, Malaysia Airlines will be serving the impacted routes with alternative in-flight F&B, ensuring seamless operations while minimising any potential impact on customer comfort and experience. Other remaining routes will continue to be served by the current provider, POS Aviation Sdn Bhd,” it said.

As far as I know, LHR/Japan flights are currently catered by Pos Aviation. I am curious if Village Park nasi lemak will make an appearance on MH soon 🤣 And what alternative F&B entails? They are collaborating with Mandarin Oriental KL for their lounge catering for Merdeka and Malaysia Day - the future looks a bit more promising for wise.

I visited the domestic KUL lounge recently and I noticed that catering has improved a lot. Are the lounges catered by Awana or PPL now?

[jahur 0]

Overheard that MAG is in process of acquiring Brahim but it will take months. During this period as reported by the media Mh will be sourcing multiple catering units including hotels etc. Dont expect it to be smooth sailing in terms of quality and consistency. 

[KK Lee 5]

7 hours ago, jahur said:

Overheard that MAG is in process of acquiring Brahim but it will take months. During this period as reported by the media Mh will be sourcing multiple catering units including hotels etc. Dont expect it to be smooth sailing in terms of quality and consistency. 

Acquiring brahim facility at klia mutually benefit both parties. However at what price? Unless the top few management level at brahim are replaced, it will likely old wine in new bottle.

[Craig 0]

12 hours ago, jahur said:

Overheard that MAG is in process of acquiring Brahim but it will take months. During this period as reported by the media Mh will be sourcing multiple catering units including hotels etc. Dont expect it to be smooth sailing in terms of quality and consistency. 

I thought that fell through because both parties couldn't agree on the price? 

4 hours ago, KK Lee said:

Acquiring brahim facility at klia mutually benefit both parties. However at what price? Unless the top few management level at brahim are replaced, it will likely old wine in new bottle.

Last I read, RM129 million.

[jahur 0]

2 hours ago, Craig said:

I thought that fell through because both parties couldn't agree on the price? 

Last I read, RM129 million.

Well thats half true. There was no mutual agreement on takeover price and it has been stuck since the pandemic. Now it seems the gov has stepped in. It wont be 129mil as well as Brahim was already bleeding.

While people are blaming Brahim for MH lackluster meals one must wonder also cause meals catered by other airlines ex KUL with Brahim do not have the occasional subpar meal that MH has. It has been noted MH y meals for regional under 3 hours have been stripped bare bone down to RM18 per pax for  whereas others have opted to stick with rm30 or more. EK contract for their segment was about rm56 per meal for economy. So its not entirely Brahims issue as well. SATS is also charging a similar pricing for ex SIN but in SGD.

Meals in MH have degraded from constant cost cutting. The long one sided contract with Brahim did not help either.

Edited August 31, 2023 by jahur

[Izanee 0]

Yeah, I agree MH has been heavily cost cutting but it had been forced to buy meals from Brahims at overinflated rates… so I am not surprised that they have tried to push the costs down by downgrading the meal quality. 

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

4 hours ago, jahur said:

It has been noted MH y meals for regional under 3 hours have been stripped bare bone down to RM18 per pax for  whereas others have opted to stick with rm30 or more. EK contract for their segment was about rm56 per meal for economy. So its not entirely Brahims issue as well. SATS is also charging a similar pricing for ex SIN but in SGD.

That is interesting. Wonder what average price MH is paying for flights more than 3 hours ? 

[KK Lee 5]

8 hours ago, jahur said:

Well thats half true. There was no mutual agreement on takeover price and it has been stuck since the pandemic. Now it seems the gov has stepped in. It wont be 129mil as well as Brahim was already bleeding.

While people are blaming Brahim for MH lackluster meals one must wonder also cause meals catered by other airlines ex KUL with Brahim do not have the occasional subpar meal that MH has. It has been noted MH y meals for regional under 3 hours have been stripped bare bone down to RM18 per pax for  whereas others have opted to stick with rm30 or more. EK contract for their segment was about rm56 per meal for economy. So its not entirely Brahims issue as well. SATS is also charging a similar pricing for ex SIN but in SGD.

Meals in MH have degraded from constant cost cutting. The long one sided contract with Brahim did not help either.

In the original brahim contract, profit was guaranteed. mh could budget any menu price, brahim deliver what is left after guaranteed profit. the lower mh pax number, the lower the food cost or/and poorer quality. if mh pax number is better than forecast, brahim gave premium ice cream.

RM12 and RM38 made marginal price difference on regional and long haul ticket price respectively but pax perceived service is a level difference.

 

[Craig 0]

21 hours ago, jahur said:

It has been noted MH y meals for regional under 3 hours have been stripped bare bone down to RM18 per pax for  whereas others have opted to stick with rm30 or more. EK contract for their segment was about rm56 per meal for economy. So its not entirely Brahims issue as well. SATS is also charging a similar pricing for ex SIN but in SGD.

Meals in MH have degraded from constant cost cutting. The long one sided contract with Brahim did not help either.

I am curious if it will be the same quality/quantity if both say CX and MH pays RM30 meal with Brahims.

12 hours ago, KK Lee said:

RM12 and RM38 made marginal price difference on regional and long haul ticket price respectively but pax perceived service is a level difference.

Not a whole lot of difference, but assuming MH needs a bit of a markup, that RM26 difference could mean a ticket that will be increased from RM400 (for RM18 meal) to RM450 (RM38 meal) for a oneway to BKK/CGK. And MH will probably lose pax to TG/AK/OD/Z9. And for other airlines flying into KUL, the increase in catering cost will only affect a few flights a day where as for MH, this will affect almost all their KUL outbound flights. 

[Chris Tan 0]

46 minutes ago, Craig said:

Not a whole lot of difference, but assuming MH needs a bit of a markup, that RM26 difference could mean a ticket that will be increased from RM400 (for RM18 meal) to RM450 (RM38 meal) for a oneway to BKK/CGK. And MH will probably lose pax to TG/AK/OD/Z9. And for other airlines flying into KUL, the increase in catering cost will only affect a few flights a day where as for MH, this will affect almost all their KUL outbound flights. 

Meanwhile people are calling for government intervention to lower domestic airfare… 🤷‍♂️

[jahur 0]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

I am curious if it will be the same quality/quantity if both say CX and MH pays RM30 meal with Brahims.

Not a whole lot of difference, but assuming MH needs a bit of a markup, that RM26 difference could mean a ticket that will be increased from RM400 (for RM18 meal) to RM450 (RM38 meal) for a oneway to BKK/CGK. And MH will probably lose pax to TG/AK/OD/Z9. And for other airlines flying into KUL, the increase in catering cost will only affect a few flights a day where as for MH, this will affect almost all their KUL outbound flights. 

Definitely will be close to each other except CX may opt a more oriental meal preference. The other caterer Pos Aviation Catering while meals do look better its been noted the ingredients procurement in terms of quality and freshness have been subpar over Brahim, Options are also limited as POS infrastructure is still small.

Brahim actually is the best one out of KUL especially after SATS came in and did a bit of procedural overhaul but dispose the shares at a loss cause it was not commercially viable long term. Not helping the main client "MH" has been tinkering over costs issue that lays solely on its passengers being very price sensitivity and poor yields. The contract it sign pre SATS Brahim that was very long and one sided also contributed. But overall again it goes back down to what type passengers Malaysia is attracting as whole and whether it can retain the same with what BKK SIN is attracting to even allow the flag carrier to contract similar meals to what those country cater when it comes to meals.  

On another note capital A's SANTAN is still the most efficient caterer in asia especially when it comes down to pricing but if it were to setup meal tray service with sides etc it will also be on the same end with the others.

Edited September 1, 2023 by jahur

[KK Lee 5]

3 hours ago, Craig said:

I am curious if it will be the same quality/quantity if both say CX and MH pays RM30 meal with Brahims.

Not a whole lot of difference, but assuming MH needs a bit of a markup, that RM26 difference could mean a ticket that will be increased from RM400 (for RM18 meal) to RM450 (RM38 meal) for a oneway to BKK/CGK. And MH will probably lose pax to TG/AK/OD/Z9. And for other airlines flying into KUL, the increase in catering cost will only affect a few flights a day where as for MH, this will affect almost all their KUL outbound flights. 

MH ticket is higher than TG, price difference could absorb better catering. MH cost structure could never competitive with AK or OD. MH is like Toyota/Honda could never compete with proton or perodua in price or volume, should focus on business travellers.

 

1 hour ago, jahur said:

Definitely will be close to each other except CX may opt a more oriental meal preference. The other caterer Pos Aviation Catering while meals do look better its been noted the ingredients procurement in terms of quality and freshness have been subpar over Brahim, Options are also limited as POS infrastructure is still small.

Brahim actually is the best one out of KUL especially after SATS came in and did a bit of procedural overhaul but dispose the shares at a loss cause it was not commercially viable long term. Not helping the main client "MH" has been tinkering over costs issue that lays solely on its passengers being very price sensitivity and poor yields. The contract it sign pre SATS Brahim that was very long and one sided also contributed. But overall again it goes back down to what type passengers Malaysia is attracting as whole and whether it can retain the same with what BKK SIN is attracting to even allow the flag carrier to contract similar meals to what those country cater when it comes to meals.  

On another note capital A's SANTAN is still the most efficient caterer in asia especially when it comes down to pricing but if it were to setup meal tray service with sides etc it will also be on the same end with the others.

When Brahim facility was built in the 1990's was the state of art but hasn't upgrade much since. Whoever take over Brahim need to invest over RM200m to make it cost efficient. As said, Brahim need a new team of management to make profit.

Similarly, Pos Aviation didn't upgrade its facility in the last few decades and catering management need to be independent from cargo, etc.

Central kitchen has developed enormously in the last decade in the country, there are many efficient production but is sidelined due to politic. 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by KK Lee

[JuliusWong 0]

Finally it is out in the public, got to know last week from insiders, but could not said it in public. Nanti kena basuh...

Anyhow, today MH launches Amritsar, Thiruvananthampuram, and Ahmedabad!  Was just talking abt how MH is lagging behind SQ Group for flight into India two weeks ago. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by JuliusWong

[jahur 0]

Looks like catering disruption already affecting a few mh flights out of KUL with delays today. Imagine if the catering ended 2 months ago as what was originally intended.

[JuliusWong 0]

In the middle of school holiday. Haiyo....well, this is one off event. Sabar semua ya.....I think Asiana Airlines faced the same issue before. BA bought KFC for one of its flights when their catering provider made a boo-boo recently. 

One drumstick for you, another for you.....do you want original or spicy flavour?

[Pall 0]

13 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

In the middle of school holiday. Haiyo....well, this is one off event. Sabar semua ya.....I think Asiana Airlines faced the same issue before. BA bought KFC for one of its flights when their catering provider made a boo-boo recently. 

One drumstick for you, another for you.....do you want original or spicy flavour?

We offer local special, ayam goreng rempah.

[Craig 0]

In addition to announcing flights to TRV, ATQ, and AMD, MH has also announced increased frequencies to MEL (seasonal 14 to 15 weekly), SYD (seasonal 14 to 16 weekly), CAN (5 to 7 weekly), PKX (3 to 7 weekly), PVG (9 to 10 weekly), HKG (11 to 14 weekly), CGK (28 to 35 weekly), BKK (34 to 42 weekly), and SGN (15 to 19 weekly). No announcements were made for HND tho. 

20 hours ago, KK Lee said:

MH ticket is higher than TG, price difference could absorb better catering. MH cost structure could never competitive with AK or OD. MH is like Toyota/Honda could never compete with proton or perodua in price or volume, should focus on business travellers.

This is more of a home carrier premium (plus MH wins on frequencies). TG is more expensive than MH for BKK-KUL. Home carriers usually charge more for flights from their hub and this is common around the world. 

[Alif A. F. 0]

Any of you in MH flights post-Brahim? How was the meal like?

[Chris Tan 0]

On 9/1/2023 at 6:53 PM, Craig said:

In addition to announcing flights to TRV, ATQ, and AMD,

73H on those routes is just torture.

[KK Lee 5]

 

MALAYSIA Airlines Bhd (MAB) will be offering alternative food and beverages options while actively exploring a new service provider, after it ended a long-standing partnership with its anchor caterer, Brahim’s Food Services (BFS), earlier this week.

Among them, the national flag carrier said it will allow passengers to bring their own meals on selected routes as it transitions to a new catering service.

https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/460252

Edited September 3, 2023 by KK Lee

[jahur 0]

On 9/2/2023 at 5:23 PM, Alif A. F. said:

Any of you in MH flights post-Brahim? How was the meal like?

Regional flights some were given banana, bread on business class. Some were given rm30-70 vouchers to spend at klia. Some were unaffected as the flights got fully correctly catered especially for long haul. Then there's those on shorter flights being catered by pos aviation totally unaffected. The main issue is these alternative caterings combined do not have the volume to supply all the flights. Note most of them already started preparing 2 months ago but as u can see issues still persist. It may get slightly more consistent and stable in a few weeks later.

There's rumor that the transition period will take up to 6months(not exactly confidence building). Instead of extending the contract with brahim until takeover. They rather outright exit promptly. 

[KK Lee 5]

49 minutes ago, jahur said:

Regional flights some were given banana, bread on business class. Some were given rm30-70 vouchers to spend at klia. Some were unaffected as the flights got fully correctly catered especially for long haul. Then there's those on shorter flights being catered by pos aviation totally unaffected. The main issue is these alternative caterings combined do not have the volume to supply all the flights. Note most of them already started preparing 2 months ago but as u can see issues still persist. It may get slightly more consistent and stable in a few weeks later.

There's rumor that the transition period will take up to 6months(not exactly confidence building). Instead of extending the contract with brahim until takeover. They rather outright exit promptly. 

AK's regular vendor and a few central kitchen in kv have the capacity to supply mh ey regional meals without issue.

 

[jahur 0]

2 minutes ago, KK Lee said:

AK's regular vendor and a few central kitchen in kv have the capacity to supply mh ey regional meals without issue.

 

Nope they're unable to supply adequately unless an expansion is made on their end. As for other central kitchens there's certain standard guidelines that you need to follow. You also cant simply out of the blue contract 7e, mcd and family mart unless certain certs and procurement policy has been set. Ana's domestic inflight serving of KFC for example the meals are prepped very differently than kfc Japan's meals on the restaurant as one example. Ba's one off kfc meal was an emergency dispensory and waivered. 

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

 

On 9/2/2023 at 7:23 PM, Alif A. F. said:

Any of you in MH flights post-Brahim? How was the meal like?

Was onboard MH122 SYD-KUL on 2/9. Not sure if the food was catered from kitchen in KUL. The lunch presentation was very disappointing and the food I had (curry chicken with rice) was not to my taste.

Anyway, it has been long time since my ride with MAS (my last flight was pre-COVID). So I can't tell if this is post-Brahim thing or it is the ordinary MAS standard nowadays ?

 

IMG_8242 by hooiyenkee, on Flickr

 

IMG_8243 by hooiyenkee, on Flickr