MAS Privatisation

[flee 5]

11 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Don't think Captain Izham gives a s#1t now, since he is scheduled to leave in two months. Haven't heard he is renewing his contract. 

It is surprising that he could last so long - if you are an aviation industry professional, you would have quit MAG long ago because there is no long term strategy for the company. They are living from hand to mouth and even after they are turned around, the shareholders forgot to put some funds into development and growth. They are still running at tickover speed.

11 hours ago, Izanee said:

MH is gonna have serious reputational damage

with this style of operation. There is just no room Manoeuvre… short sighted thinking by the bean counters who are basically driving what could be a profitable airline into the ground 

The two airlines that came from the same DNA, MAG and SIA, have very different futures. One has little to no future and the other has a bright future. I think we can guess which is which!

[Pall 0]

12 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

The A330 fleet is barely holding together, a lot of them are flying with Minimum Equipment List (MEL), a lot of unplanned and planned maintenance are postponed to keep up with the schedule. Don't think Captain Izham gives a s#1t now, since he is scheduled to leave in two months. Haven't heard he is renewing his contract. 

MEL is a common thing industry wide even for a brand new aircraft fresh out of factory, so the classification a lot of them are flying with MEL is not an accurate picture. Even an unserviceable blub (1 light out of 50) it will get listed under MEL. Does not mean the aircraft is not safe.

In this situation, its the level of effort done by engineers to clear a defect. They too are under pressure from above to release an aircraft as soon as possible. So all end up doing quick fix instead of a thorough inspection and part change. Just like your PC issue, end up doing resets instead of solving the root cause like a hardware failure.

[Robert 0]

MH 1 has diverted to Doha

Reported on another group that there is an issue with the weather radar that needs fixing before the plane can leave

[Robert 0]

51 minutes ago, Pall said:

MEL is a common thing industry wide even for a brand new aircraft fresh out of factory, so the classification a lot of them are flying with MEL is not an accurate picture. Even an unserviceable blub (1 light out of 50) it will get listed under MEL. Does not mean the aircraft is not safe.

In this situation, its the level of effort done by engineers to clear a defect. They too are under pressure from above to release an aircraft as soon as possible. So all end up doing quick fix instead of a thorough inspection and part change. Just like your PC issue, end up doing resets instead of solving the root cause like a hardware failure.

and we know what can happen if things are not repaired and just reset. The Air Asia disaster comes to mind. 

[Pall 0]

19 minutes ago, Robert said:

and we know what can happen if things are not repaired and just reset. The Air Asia disaster comes to mind. 

Exactly whats happening to MH right now. Operations hampered solely by reliability issues.

[Lim Kar Yong 0]

19 minutes ago, Robert said:

MH 1 has diverted to Doha

Reported on another group that there is an issue with the weather radar that needs fixing before the plane can leave

It seems tech issue is getting very common .... two of my recent flights had tech issues too. Just last week, we were delayed from Melbourne for 2 hours. The aircraft was pushed back, and there were some tech issues. We had to go back to the gate, and we were seated in the plane till the issue (whatever it was) was resolved before taking off. Couldn't help but to think what might happen if we keep on having some many tech issues, apart from the massive delays ......

[Robert 0]

Maybe a coincidence but MH88 has now been retimed to 04:00. 

[JuliusWong 0]

It is a vicious cycle that MAG inflicts upon itself. 

Management:

Headless and complacent management -> Poor leadership -> Poor organization direction -> Poor pay -> Employee leaves for better pay -> Lower staff count -> Increasing workload and need to train new staff (without additional pay) ->  Low staff morale -> Doesn't take pride and ownership in their work -> Simply fix to cover one hole after another......

Bean counters:

Company in red -> Cut budget for all dept, no increment (eke out a bit for bonus to satisfy everyone to not leave the company) -> Less spare inventory -> Aircraft breakdown -> No spare, pull aircraft from service -> Disrupt schedule -> somehow suddenly got money to sponsor Manchester United! 

HR dept:

Pilot and engineers asked pre-pandemic allowance to be restored -> no money, no budget kalau nak kerja, diam. x suka, u boleh keluar dari company -> staff angry, resigned move to another company -> kelam kabut do recruitment for newbies -> newbies learn from scratch -> senior babysit without extra pay. quality of some newbies is questionable.....trainers also fed up.

Newbies baru joined used LV bag, show off at social media, the public thought pilot work so easy and beautiful....press few buttons enough......yet highly paid!.......hmm, cadet pilot only ya.....

Even a 7.2 months bonus would be useless. :s

[Robert 0]

2 hours ago, Robert said:

MH 1 has diverted to Doha

Reported on another group that there is an issue with the weather radar that needs fixing before the plane can leave

I heard MH1 is cancelled and the passengers were told that the earliest replacement flight is 10am local time tomorrow

[jahur 0]

HR: You guys kan overpaid bus driver and servants without degree. To new SPM hires since there's no decorum and an entire focus on making social media content you guys are worthy of the the Low Balled MYR 4-5K basic. If the world allows so we can replace you all with A.I ?

Finance: No money, target and msia market forces yada yada repeat rinse.

Gov: Not my responsibility let the market decide but stupidly spends on unnecessary stuffs on the annual budget(Actual brain drain occurs)

 

[JuliusWong 0]

1 hour ago, Robert said:

I heard MH1 is cancelled and the passengers were told that the earliest replacement flight is 10am local time tomorrow

MH1 is operated by 9M-MAC. 

9M-MAG has been on ground since June 27, 2024.  That's make it two A350-900s grounded and one A330-323 9M-MTL grounded at BKK.

A330-223 9M-MTX is now back in service, doing the cancelled MH156 to JED.

[Pall 0]

Sad to see engineers, pilots and flight attendants being paid pennies in a flag carrier. I was told Captains basic pay in MH is same as junior copilot basic in ME3. 

Engineers are paid 3x-4x more down south in that Island nation. 

2 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

It is a vicious cycle that MAG inflicts upon itself. 

Management:

Headless and complacent management -> Poor leadership -> Poor organization direction -> Poor pay -> Employee leaves for better pay -> Lower staff count -> Increasing workload and need to train new staff (without additional pay) ->  Low staff morale -> Doesn't take pride and ownership in their work -> Simply fix to cover one hole after another......

Bean counters:

Company in red -> Cut budget for all dept, no increment (eke out a bit for bonus to satisfy everyone to not leave the company) -> Less spare inventory -> Aircraft breakdown -> No spare, pull aircraft from service -> Disrupt schedule -> somehow suddenly got money to sponsor Manchester United! 

HR dept:

Pilot and engineers asked pre-pandemic allowance to be restored -> no money, no budget kalau nak kerja, diam. x suka, u boleh keluar dari company -> staff angry, resigned move to another company -> kelam kabut do recruitment for newbies -> newbies learn from scratch -> senior babysit without extra pay. quality of some newbies is questionable.....trainers also fed up.

Newbies baru joined used LV bag, show off at social media, the public thought pilot work so easy and beautiful....press few buttons enough......yet highly paid!.......hmm, cadet pilot only ya.....

Even a 7.2 months bonus would be useless. :s

 

[JonathanFong 0]

I flew on 2 MH A350s recently on MH 160 and 161 (KUL-DOH, DOH-KUL).

9M-MAD operating MH 160 had issues with the IFE system requiring an inflight reboot, and before take-off an F/A was walking around the cabin with what looked like a list of cabin defects informing various pax that their seats had issues. Was informed my bulkhead Y seat had an inop headphone jack, but I later discovered that the entire IFE arm was stuck in the stow position.

9M-MAE operating MH161 was quite hot upon boarding - this was remote boarding at DOH so it was quite hot and stuffy and I assumed the air conditioning was inop. Things only improved slowly when the engines were started.

I wonder what else was broken on both a/c. It's actually getting quite concerning because it seems like MAG is not willing to spend to keep their operations running smoothly eventhough it'll affect their bottom line eventually. What are they being "kiamsiap" for?

[JuliusWong 0]

1 minute ago, JonathanFong said:

I flew on 2 MH A350s recently on MH 160 and 161 (KUL-DOH, DOH-KUL).

9M-MAD operating MH 160 had issues with the IFE system requiring an inflight reboot, and before take-off an F/A was walking around the cabin with what looked like a list of cabin defects informing various pax that their seats had issues. Was informed my bulkhead Y seat had an inop headphone jack, but I later discovered that the entire IFE arm was stuck in the stow position.

9M-MAE operating MH161 was quite hot upon boarding - this was remote boarding at DOH so it was quite hot and stuffy and I assumed the air conditioning was inop. Things only improved slowly when the engines were started.

I wonder what else was broken on both a/c. It's actually getting quite concerning because it seems like MAG is not willing to spend to keep their operations running smoothly eventhough it'll affect their bottom line eventually. What are they being "kiamsiap" for?

Kiamsiap (means "stingy" for our non-local guests) and waiting for total refurbishment for A350 fleet to start in 2026. All six will get a makeover except 9M-MAH.

[Robert 0]

2 hours ago, JonathanFong said:

I flew on 2 MH A350s recently on MH 160 and 161 (KUL-DOH, DOH-KUL).

9M-MAD operating MH 160 had issues with the IFE system requiring an inflight reboot, and before take-off an F/A was walking around the cabin with what looked like a list of cabin defects informing various pax that their seats had issues. Was informed my bulkhead Y seat had an inop headphone jack, but I later discovered that the entire IFE arm was stuck in the stow position.

9M-MAE operating MH161 was quite hot upon boarding - this was remote boarding at DOH so it was quite hot and stuffy and I assumed the air conditioning was inop. Things only improved slowly when the engines were started.

I wonder what else was broken on both a/c. It's actually getting quite concerning because it seems like MAG is not willing to spend to keep their operations running smoothly eventhough it'll affect their bottom line eventually. What are they being "kiamsiap" for?

Was on 9M-MAD back in Jan on MH4
After a decent flight to London (also on MAD this was a complete s**t show

Seat 8A deflated prior take off so I was moved until a blow up mattress was organised
After take off the IFE and WiFi failed owing to a fire safety sensor issue. This meant it was broken for the whole flight. There were many reports of this happening in Jan
Other crew Ive spoken with said mgt told therm no time to fix it properly
Although not needed the handset was in a terrible condition
Following a sleep my seat broke in a half reclined position
Was moved to the last row of J to one of the crew seats. This was quite cramped and had no storage space
One of the toilets was fixed by tape

For the money I paid I would have expected it to work properly. Sadly Im told that these are common issues.

On the upside was food was good and the crew were great.

[JuliusWong 0]

7 hours ago, Pall said:

Sad to see engineers, pilots and flight attendants being paid pennies in a flag carrier. I was told Captains basic pay in MH is same as junior copilot basic in ME3. 

Engineers are paid 3x-4x more down south in that Island nation. 

 

Yes you are correct. Not sure if this is latest, but you sort of have a rough idea how it was. On a side note, junior cabin crew pay basic starts from RM1,500 for local. Foreigners get slightly higher. For comparison, Singapore Airlines cabin crew earns on average most starts with SGD2,200 for basic.

On 7/4/2024 at 3:52 PM, JuliusWong said:

 

Edited August 5 by JuliusWong

[Pall 0]

7 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Yes you are correct. Not sure if this is latest, but you sort of have a rough idea how it was. On a side note, junior cabin crew pay basic starts from RM1,500 for local. Foreigners get slightly higher. For comparison, Singapore Airlines cabin crew earns on average most starts with SGD2,200 for basic.

 

Even on a dollar for dollar basis, MH Cabin crew is far behind. Not including SQ's generous bonuses.

[Robert 0]

20 hours ago, Robert said:

I heard MH1 is cancelled and the passengers were told that the earliest replacement flight is 10am local time tomorrow

Looks like they have not been able to fix 9M-MAC and the passengers have been told that the earliest they can leave is tomorrow  (7 Aug). 

What a sh*t show. They should send a rescue aircraft and/or find space on other flights on any route possible. 

As the flight was ex LHR does UK261 provide compensation?

[flee 5]

15 minutes ago, Robert said:

Looks like they have not been able to fix 9M-MAC and the passengers have been told that the earliest they can leave is tomorrow  (7 Aug). 

What a sh*t show. They should send a rescue aircraft and/or find space on other flights on any route possible. 

As the flight was ex LHR does UK261 provide compensation?

So sad to see such poor service recovery - they should have put the pax on their partner airline's (QR) flights once they realised that the fix was going to take some time.

[kandiah k 0]

No media coverage on this mess? 

 

[Robert 0]

49 minutes ago, kandiah k said:

No media coverage on this mess? 

 

Main stream media doesn't often report on these things. 
The NST aviation lady just parrots whats the top brass tell her. 

 

[kandiah k 0]

Interesting how they don't cover these sort of inconveniences caused to full service passengers whereas if it was a certain budget carrier, there will a huge bombarding by now. Lol !! 

Anyway, this needs urgent attention. How can they be making profits at the expense of quality and safety? Where is Mavcom or even the Transport Minister for all these issues? 

[Pall 0]

1 hour ago, kandiah k said:

Interesting how they don't cover these sort of inconveniences caused to full service passengers whereas if it was a certain budget carrier, there will a huge bombarding by now. Lol !! 

Anyway, this needs urgent attention. How can they be making profits at the expense of quality and safety? Where is Mavcom or even the Transport Minister for all these issues? 

At the expense of quality is still acceptable as it will only impact their future business, however for safety its unacceptable. 

[JuliusWong 0]

Actually from what I have read, 9M-MAC weather radar system malfunctioned and the pilot did not want to take the risk especially flying through Bay of Bengal, hence decided to diverted to Doha to get it fixed. Since QR also flies the A350, they have the MRO capability. However the malfunction is much more serious than initially though, hence the flight is cancelled  successively. 

Edited August 6 by JuliusWong

[BC Tam 2]

Hence the captain/pilot in command need be commended for making that call - all without benefit of hindsight that is