MAS Privatisation

[jahur 0]

8 hours ago, Riza said:

Compared to 333, what kind of arrangement / improvement done that results in those extra 1J + 6Y seats in 339?

Not mistake the 330ceo to 330neo comes with a bit of revision on the galleys, crew seating, lavatory to allow 1 row of seats by default. 

Then with those herringbone config for business class. That slanting position allows the airline to maintain somewhat the same amount of seats while maintaining 1-2-1 seating arrangement while previous iteration has been mix with only a few throne seats. Though am not really a fan of the  claustrophobic wall partition unless its roomy like a suite. Cx collins diamond though with dull color at least does not feel claustrophobic as not much enclosement. 

[Craig 0]

AKL will be the second 339 route for MH (for now) beginning 30 March 2025 (a bit late? I thought AKL was primed for 339 as soon as they have 3-4 339s?). Flight schedule for NS25:

MH133 KUL0835 – 2250AKL 339 x357
MH145 KUL2110 – 1125+1AKL 339 x146

MH132 AKL0025 – 0750KUL 339 x146
MH144 AKL1300 – 2025KUL 339 x257

Very rare to see MH updating their schedule this far in advance 😅

Edited March 25 by Craig

[Craig 0]

On 3/23/2024 at 4:01 PM, Robert said:

BTW based on the expertflyer GDS data the 339 starts flying to MEL on 24 Nov and not 25 Nov. At this stage I would things are quite fluid.

Things are fluid but I still see 25Nov on EF.

[flee 5]

12 minutes ago, Craig said:

AKL will be the second 339 route for MH beginning 30 March 2025 (a bit late? I thought AKL was primed for 339 as soon as they have 3-4 339s?). Flight schedule for NS25:

Very rare to see MH updating their schedule this far in advance 😅

It probably makes sense with a new aircraft type - AKL is a long way from home and if there are any problems, it will be a big strain on their operations.

Perhaps, MH has improved their route planning and development department. Lets hope that they continue to improve!

[JuliusWong 0]

Schedule is very fluid now, if you are booking just to experience A330neo on long haul flight, I suggest to wait until July/August to be safe. A330NEO will be replacing A330-300ceo on several trunk routes:

1. MEL
2. SYD
3. AKL
4. KIX
5. NRT/HND
6. PVG
7. PKX
8. HKG
9. ICN
10. DOH

This would mean some A330-300ceo will be leaving the fleet, I believe five A330-300ceo will leave. 10 will be retained to service other heavy trunk regional routes: MNL, DPS, BKK and domestic trunk routes during the school holiday. Also as back up aircraft due to supply chain issue at both Airbus and Boeing, they need to keep older planes to avoid any service disruption. BUT, A330-300 will not be receiving upgrade if you read the recent new releases. They kind of expect no one would spot it. Haha!

With 20 A330-900s coming, and hunch is telling me they will add another 10 more, 30 in total. A330-200 will eventually leave the fleet. Perhaps going to AMAL by Malaysia Airlines to do Haj and Umrah flight. Currently AMAL does not have permanent fleet.

Captain Izham has stated recently they will have 50 narrowbody and 50 long haul by end of the decade. Final tally should be around this:

• A330-300 = 10
• A330-900 = 30
• A350-900 = 10

Edited March 25 by JuliusWong

[jahur 0]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

AKL will be the second 339 route for MH (for now) beginning 30 March 2025 (a bit late? I thought AKL was primed for 339 as soon as they have 3-4 339s?). Flight schedule for NS25:

MH133 KUL0835 – 2250AKL 339 x357
MH145 KUL2110 – 1125+1AKL 339 x146

MH132 AKL0025 – 0750KUL 339 x146
MH144 AKL1300 – 2025KUL 339 x257

Very rare to see MH updating their schedule this far in advance 😅

Too far out to actually firm something. E.G the max 8 severely delayed scheduling timeline. Note last year dec they said 4 a330neos to come in 2024 now its changed to 3. Looking at how aircraft deliveries have been missing the mark consistently. The worse possible scenario one has to consider is maybe MH will only receive 2 frames this year. AKL being put far out also is to have more breathing room to make changes to scheduling.

[JuliusWong 0]

3 hours ago, jahur said:

Too far out to actually firm something. E.G the max 8 severely delayed scheduling timeline. Note last year dec they said 4 a330neos to come in 2024 now its changed to 3. Looking at how aircraft deliveries have been missing the mark consistently. The worse possible scenario one has to consider is maybe MH will only receive 2 frames this year. AKL being put far out also is to have more breathing room to make changes to scheduling.

Yes, despite the A330-900s is now at its lowest production rate (2 per month), it is also impacted by the supply chain issue. No wonder big premium airlines are rushing to place big orders to secure their slots for the next six years.  Late comers cannot be choosers.....

[flee 5]

I suspect the Max will also suffer the same fate. So far, there have been no further deliveries and Q1 is coming to an end already. I wonder how many Max MH will now receive in 2024, given that Boeing is now in even deeper s#1t than last year.

[JuliusWong 0]

38 minutes ago, flee said:

I suspect the Max will also suffer the same fate. So far, there have been no further deliveries and Q1 is coming to an end already. I wonder how many Max MH will now receive in 2024, given that Boeing is now in even deeper s#1t than last year.

They are scheduled to receive eight B737 MAX 8 this year. I am optimistic they can do at least five. That would mean MH will need to source for additional B737-800NG from the used markets. 9M-MLK and 9M-MLL are not sufficient to cover FY's expansion this year. 

[Pall 0]

21 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Captain Izham has stated recently they will have 50 narrowbody and 50 long haul by end of the decade. Final tally should be around this:

• A330-300 = 10
• A330-900 = 30
• A350-900 = 10

It's should be 40 A339's and 10 A350's. 

[Riza 0]

Why does AKL schedule always zigzag zigzag like that?

[Craig 0]

55 minutes ago, Riza said:

Why does AKL schedule always zigzag zigzag like that?

MH133 connects from India but not most of Asia.
Return MH 132 connects to most of Asia but doesn't really connect to India (other than MAA, BLR, BOM, DEL on certain days)

MH 145 connects from Asia and some cities in India
Return MH 144 connects to some cities in India but doesn't really connect to Asia other than JP/KR

But the oddest thing is AKL has double frequency on Tuesday ex-KUL of all days. Not exactly the busiest travel day. 

AKL is in this weird time zone and distance where it's either a very long layover or a very short turnaround but still can't fulfill connections on both sides. I think they tried it once with a daily flight with similar timing to MH 145 on the outbound (departing much alter around midnight) and the plane sits around for 9 hours at AKL and do the return with similar schedule as MH 132 (earlier return to arrive around 7AM).

[JuliusWong 0]

14 minutes ago, Craig said:

MH133 connects from India but not most of Asia.
Return MH 132 connects to most of Asia but doesn't really connect to India (other than MAA, BLR, BOM, DEL on certain days)

MH 145 connects from Asia and some cities in India
Return MH 144 connects to some cities in India but doesn't really connect to Asia other than JP/KR

But the oddest thing is AKL has double frequency on Tuesday ex-KUL of all days. Not exactly the busiest travel day. 

AKL is in this weird time zone and distance where it's either a very long layover or a very short turnaround but still can't fulfill connections on both sides. I think they tried it once with a daily flight with similar timing to MH 145 on the outbound (departing much alter around midnight) and the plane sits around for 9 hours at AKL and do the return with similar schedule as MH 132 (earlier return to arrive around 7AM).

I am not sure if MH can take advantage of the slot availability since D7 has quit the market. They should really do so since the flight is usually packed all year round, heavy demand from India at both J and Y. SQ and NZ mount at least three/four daily flights and applied for strategic alliance immunity from NZ government. Given the same alliance in Australia, the Australia Competition Commission will prohibit the alliance.

• 8:50 AM Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
• Travel time: 9 hr 35 min
• 10:25 PM Auckland Airport (AKL)
• Air New Zealand Economy
• Boeing 787 NZ 281

 

• 6:40 PM Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
• Travel time: 9 hr 35 min Overnight
• 8:15 AM+1 Auckland Airport (AKL)
• Air New Zealand Economy
• Boeing 777 NZ 283

 

• 10:45 PM Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
• Travel time: 9 hr 35 min
• 12:20 PM+1 Auckland Airport (AKL)
• Singapore Airlines Economy
• Airbus A350 SQ 285

Edited March 26 by JuliusWong

[JuliusWong 0]

3 hours ago, Pall said:

It's should be 40 A339's and 10 A350's. 

Agree, rightfully so, but Airbus won't be able to deliver 40 A330-900neo by 2030. Therefore we shall see 10 A330-300 lingering around for some time. Additionally, 40 A330neo seems to be a lot of capacity to add, not sure if Malaysia Airlines current route network will be able to support it. If they are adding more. If they have planned to expand substantially in Asia Pacific and Australia/NZ region in the next six years that would be great.

[Pall 0]

Just now, JuliusWong said:

Agree, rightfully so, but Airbus won't be able to deliver 40 A330-900neo by 2030. Therefore we shall see 10 A330-300 lingering around for some time. Additionally, 40 A330neo seems to be a lot of capacity to add, not sure if Malaysia Airlines current route network will be able to support it. If they are adding more. If they have planned to expand substantially in Asia Pacific and Australia/NZ region in the next six years that would be great.

It's not on Airbus, 40 is considered a small order with A330neo being the WB with least backlog at the moment. Its whether MH is going to commit for the options. Most of the A330ceo's are heading towards end of lease in the coming years. 

[JuliusWong 0]

43 minutes ago, Pall said:

It's not on Airbus, 40 is considered a small order with A330neo being the WB with least backlog at the moment. Its whether MH is going to commit for the options. Most of the A330ceo's are heading towards end of lease in the coming years. 

It is actually on Airbus as well. The current A330 production rate is at 2 per month and Airbus has not hint on increasing the production rate anytime soon despite having another 170+ on order, they did so for A350s. Airbus is compounded by supply chain issue at the moment. Out of the 40 that we have mentioned, 20 production slots have been allocated for since the order has been signed and confirmed. The other 20 will be to be assigned for delivery at later date even if the order is signed and confirmed today. Delta, AirAsia X and few other airlines are also in queue to receive their airframes too. Out of the 15 A330-300 which are all leased, MH will buy over two now and retain eight more via new lease, making a fleet of 10. Five will be returned to lessors.

[Pall 0]

9 minutes ago, JuliusWong said:

It is actually on Airbus as well. The current A330 production rate is at 2 per month and Airbus has not hint on increasing the production rate anytime soon despite having another 170+ on order, they did so for A350s. Airbus is compounded by supply chain issue at the moment. Out of the 40 that we have mentioned, 20 production slots have been allocated for since the order has been signed and confirmed. The other 20 will be to be assigned for delivery at later date even if the order is signed and confirmed today. Delta, AirAsia X and few other airlines are also in queue to receive their airframes too. Out of the 15 A330-300 which are all leased, MH will buy over two now and retain eight more via new lease, making a fleet of 10. Five will be returned to lessors.

Orders are from existing lessors orderbooks and schedules are normally tweaked before the MSN is assigned. 

[jahur 0]

The old plan from 2021 was to dispose almost 40% of the a330ceos in 2025 and all of them to exit in 2027. But now with them saying they need 50 widebody total and them not giving any timeline to firm up the extra 20options for the a330neo(even if they did they wont arrive by 2027 or later) its no brainer they have to retain quite a number of the old a330ceos to hold the fort for at least 5 years or in worse case seek out 2nd hand frames if its expensive to renew leases.

[JuliusWong 0]

55 minutes ago, Pall said:

Orders are from existing lessors orderbooks and schedules are normally tweaked before the MSN is assigned. 

Lessor slots have all been taken up by various airlines if you look at the Airbus Order and Delivery monthly Excel file in details.

Edited March 26 by JuliusWong

[flee 5]

I think that airlines that don't do fleet planning properly are suffering badly now. Those that planned are suffering less, but no one is not suffering. The supply chain issues are serious.

[Riza 0]

Interesting to see what MH will do with the free up 332 which is doing AKL runs once 339 take over the route. 

[sweekee 0]

8 hours ago, Riza said:

Interesting to see what MH will do with the free up 332 which is doing AKL runs once 339 take over the route. 

Maybe return to the lessors 

[JuliusWong 0]

9 hours ago, Riza said:

Interesting to see what MH will do with the free up 332 which is doing AKL runs once 339 take over the route. 

Heading to Amal by Malaysia Airlines to do Haj and Umrah flight permanently. 

[JuliusWong 0]

Grapevine: MAG facing pressure to retain current employees, close to 180 co-pilots are planning/ hinting to resign. MAG lost close to 200 pilots for the past three years. AirAsia Malaysia AirAsia X the same amount as well. While a lot of airlines, even AK/D7 are upping their allowances, multiple rating allowance and other benefits, MH seems to be static.

Yoska De Jong, MH's sort of celebrity pilot icon has left MH a few days ago, joining EK soon. Behind the scene, there are considerable amount of cabin crew also leaving to CX as they concluded recent of recruitment in KL.

I believe many airlines are now facing pressure with talent recruitment. CX has thrown out sign-on bonus of HKD12,500 for new joiner, of course with terms and conditions. A lot of expat pilots also left EK, returning to the US or their home country. With close to 14,800 new aircraft order in backlog, budget airlines and smaller national carrier from lower SES countries will definitely face immense pressure to hold onto their current employees. Those airline HR dept would need to be innovate and creative if they don't want to lose out to their competitors. That being said, I highly doubt MAG HR give two shits.

Edited March 31 by JuliusWong

[Pall 0]

7 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Grapevine: MAG facing pressure to retain current employees, close to 180 co-pilots are planning/ hinting to resign. MAG lost close to 200 pilots for the past three years. AirAsia Malaysia AirAsia X the same amount as well. While a lot of airlines, even AK/D7 are upping their allowances, multiple rating allowance and other benefits, MH seems to be static.

Yoska De Jong, MH's sort of celebrity pilot icon has left MH a few days ago, joining EK soon. Behind the scene, there are considerable amount of cabin crew also leaving to CX as they concluded recent of recruitment in KL.

I believe many airlines are now facing pressure with talent recruitment. CX has thrown out sign-on bonus of HKD12,500 for new joiner, of course with terms and conditions. A lot of expat pilots also left EK, returning to the US or their home country. With close to 14,800 new aircraft order in backlog, budget airlines and smaller national carrier from lower SES countries will definitely face immense pressure to hold onto their current employees. Those airline HR dept would need to be innovate and creative if they don't want to lose out to their competitors. That being said, I highly doubt MAG HR give two shits.

Heard MH bosses told their pilot/staff you'll are free to leave if not happy with TnC. Sounds like old habits die hard in that company.

Used to remember their pilot shortage fiasco in 2018 forcing a lot of flight cancellations. It's only a matter of time before history repeats itself.