MAS Privatisation

[flee 5]

Alternative Views: Malaysia Airlines flies into a perfect storm

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/725998

[jani 0]

Pity MH that they announced a return to CDG whilst in the midst of this operational disaster.

It's actually big news but the news gets lost in all the drama.

I would have delayed the announcement, but I guess they were chasing MATTA Fair. Not sure if entirely smart decision, as many of my friends and relatives seem to just ask "Eh big discounts for what if flight is cancelled later?"

[flee 5]

Yes, timing is bad for MH in light of their engineering boo boos and also RR dropping the ball on the Trent XWB engine....

[Craig 0]

4 hours ago, jani said:

I would have delayed the announcement, but I guess they were chasing MATTA Fair. Not sure if entirely smart decision, as many of my friends and relatives seem to just ask "Eh big discounts for what if flight is cancelled later?"

Under normal circumstances, now is the best time to reveal Summer 2025 expansion. Gives them about 6 months lead time to promote the new route. They can't delay it much longer. Every week they delay, is every week they lose potential revenue. If there are any new long haul airlines to KUL, we should hear about it within the next 1-2 months depending on when the airline plan to fly to KUL. Remember BNE was snuck into the schedule about a month before being pulled out.

Speaking of BNE, MAVCOM latest limited air traffic rights spreadsheet (current as of 13 August 2024) indicates that MH is still holding on to their 727 seats. Still no idea where they'd get the 294 seater A333 from and an airline relinquished 566 seats back into the pool. If MH grabs those, they'd have more than sufficient seats for 4x A330 weekly services.  

[Craig 0]

In an exclusive interview with Australia's Executive Traveller, Capt. Izham mentioned that MH intends to increase SYD/MEL to 3x daily (back to their peak SYD/MEL flights a few years back) and double daily to AKL to "support the new daily A350 flights to CDG". Their Aussie flight loads are in the 90s! No surprises on the A339 routes rollout: MEL, AKL, NRT, DOH with CAN slotted in unofficially. 

[JuliusWong 0]

Grapevine fleet movement (and new route development) news and gossips for the next two years:

B737-800NG
Three will leave the fleet by the end of this year. FFF is gone for good. No plan to move to Firefly, at this moment. The other two could be -8H6s, not hantu-s. Horror!

B737max
Will be receiving one airframe before the end of the year, if Boeing can get their act together.

A330-200
Will join Amal fleet permanently after retiring from mainline service

A330-300
Previously planned refurbishment will no longer be happening. Will retain two airframes as back up aircraft for A330-900neo

A330-900neo

• On track to receive the first airframe next month October. 
• Decision on 20 options further pushback to Q1, 2025.MH needs to decide soon cause the current lead time for new airframes is three to four years. The last A330-900neo delivery will be in 2028.

A350-900

• Will be removed from Doha and Tokyo route with four A350-900 airframes dedicated to LHR and two to CDG. One back up aircraft for both destinations.
• Sept 2025: 9M-MAH retrofitting with the new cabin (previously it was decided that this airframe will not get refurbishment, this is a surprise!)
• Nov 2025: 1 A350 with new cabin to do either Milan/Madrid/Frankfurt. (Only one will be chosen in 2025 and 2026 respectively, not all three, depending on A350 refurbishment.)
• Amsterdam is out of the question, for now.
• Dec 2025: The eighth (8th) airframe enters the fleet with the new cabin. contracted by lessor prior. 
• At the same time, the current six MH own A350 will undergo refurbishment. One at a time. Therefore MH will technically still be operating 7 aircraft until the earliest Q3 of 2026. 

Edited September 12 by JuliusWong

[JuliusWong 0]

B737-8H6 9M-MXU doing MH 853 KUL-DPS returned to KUL due to engine surge in engine #1. Did merry go round to burn off some fuel. It was replaced by 9M-MXR later and departed at 8:32pm, and arrived at the destination five hours behind initial scheduled departing time.

[sweekee 0]

1 hour ago, JuliusWong said:

ept 2025: 9M-MAH retrofitting with the new cabin (previously it was decided that this airframe will not get refurbishment, this is a surprise

Maybe reconfig galley at the same time to make it adapt 2 meals service?

[Izanee 0]

2 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Grapevine fleet movement (and new route development) news and gossips for the next two years:

B737-800NG
Three will leave the fleet by the end of this year. FFF is gone for good. No plan to move to Firefly, at this moment. The other two could be -8H6s, not hantu-s. Horror!

B737max
Will be receiving one airframe before the end of the year, if Boeing can get their act together.

A330-200
Will join Amal fleet permanently after retiring from mainline service

A330-300
Previously planned refurbishment will no longer be happening. Will retain two airframes as back up aircraft for A330-900neo

A330-900neo

• On track to receive the first airframe next month October. 
• Decision on 20 options further pushback to Q1, 2025.MH needs to decide soon cause the current lead time for new airframes is three to four years. The last A330-900neo delivery will be in 2028.

A350-900

• Will be removed from Doha and Tokyo route with four A350-900 airframes dedicated to LHR and two to CDG. One back up aircraft for both destinations.
• Sept 2025: 9M-MAH retrofitting with the new cabin (previously it was decided that this airframe will not get refurbishment, this is a surprise!)
• Nov 2025: 1 A350 with new cabin to do either Milan/Madrid/Frankfurt. (Only one will be chosen in 2025 and 2026 respectively, not all three, depending on A350 refurbishment.)
• Amsterdam is out of the question, for now.
• Dec 2025: The eighth (8th) airframe enters the fleet with the new cabin. contracted by lessor prior. 
• At the same time, the current six MH own A350 will undergo refurbishment. One at a time. Therefore MH will technically still be operating 7 aircraft until the earliest Q3 of 2026. 

Interesting developments! Maybe they should take 10 A339s and get 3-5 more A359s so that they can expand in Europe (or even use it for premium routes in Asia Pacific).

I think KUL-MXP-MAD would be a nice one to fly, or maybe KUL-FRA-MAD (Germany is probably our biggest trade partner in Europe, and MAD is the home to OW partner, IB). That will kill 2 birds with one stone and regain their visibility in Europe. 

makes sense to leave AMS to partner KLM - shame that KL809 is still operated by 789 rather than 77W like previously. Perhaps with MH expansion in Australia, there will be space for larger aircraft on the AMS route. I know KLM over the years have stopped completely relying on KUL for onward feed and has added codeshare connections via SIN/CAN. 

interesting times for MH with very cautious expansion. Hope it works out for them. 
 

[flee 5]

3 hours ago, Craig said:

No surprises on the A339 routes rollout: MEL, AKL, NRT, DOH with CAN slotted in unofficially. 

Yes, these under 10 hour (except for AKL) routes are the sweet spot for the A339 and MH would be using them as the low hanging fruit.

[jahur 0]

3 hours ago, Craig said:

In an exclusive interview with Australia's Executive Traveller, Capt. Izham mentioned that MH intends to increase SYD/MEL to 3x daily (back to their peak SYD/MEL flights a few years back) and double daily to AKL to "support the new daily A350 flights to CDG". Their Aussie flight loads are in the 90s! No surprises on the A339 routes rollout: MEL, AKL, NRT, DOH with CAN slotted in unofficially. 

Quote

The A330neo will steadily take over routes flown by the ageing A330s, which Ismail said would begin exiting the MH fleet from early 2025 on a “one in, one out” basis.

There's currently 1 A332 in hangar not sure if its on long term routine maintenance or up for exit. Also while the one in one out is enforce next year its quite likely MH will retain 7-8 A333 by 2027. How long they'll stay past year 2027 is highly dependent on the supposed 2nd batch order.. These 7-8 frames are the ones that i've heard to be fully owned while the rest are on leases. Also it seems people are saying around that MH will only receive 1 A339 this year if this is confirmed it will effect a few of the supposed route launch. Meanwhile airbus and MH seems to confident that MH can have a total of 5 A339 by march 2025. Hopefully the timeline sticks as much as it can in this chaotic times.

[flee 5]

3 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Grapevine fleet movement (and new route development) news and gossips for the next two years:

A330-900neo

• On track to receive the first airframe next month October. 
• Decision on 20 options further pushback to Q1, 2025.MH needs to decide soon cause the current lead time for new airframes is three to four years. The last A330-900neo delivery will be in 2028.

A350-900

• Will be removed from Doha and Tokyo route with four A350-900 airframes dedicated to LHR and two to CDG. One back up aircraft for both destinations.
• Sept 2025: 9M-MAH retrofitting with the new cabin (previously it was decided that this airframe will not get refurbishment, this is a surprise!)
• Nov 2025: 1 A350 with new cabin to do either Milan/Madrid/Frankfurt. (Only one will be chosen in 2025 and 2026 respectively, not all three, depending on A350 refurbishment.)
• Amsterdam is out of the question, for now.
• Dec 2025: The eighth (8th) airframe enters the fleet with the new cabin. contracted by lessor prior. 
• At the same time, the current six MH own A350 will undergo refurbishment. One at a time. Therefore MH will technically still be operating 7 aircraft until the earliest Q3 of 2026. 

I think MH should be managing the A359 and A339 fleets as one. That way, it can have more A350s and spare aircraft should be A359s as that can easily sub on A339 routes. The A339s, being new, can be pushed harder. They should not bother with keeping A333s as spares unless it is also a backup for Amal fleet.

Since getting hold of additional A350-900s is not easy via lessors, MH should consider ordering A350-1000s. These will be very useful for peak seasons and 3 or 4 units will be good to increase capacity at slot constrained airports like LHR. As A350-1000 operations are very similar to A350-900 ops, it should not be a problem for MH.

[KK Lee 5]

Had mas ordered a350/787 instead of a330 a few years ago. Routes expansion to EUR and fleet management could be easier.

[JuliusWong 0]

40 minutes ago, KK Lee said:

Had mas ordered a350/787 instead of a330 a few years ago. Routes expansion to EUR and fleet management could be easier.

I think the credit ratings and credit terms were not in MH's favour. They were technically bankrupt back then, no financial institutions would give them a low/ lower interest rate for loan. The A330 was on its end of production run, Airbus would have offered them a good deal to take them. The only issue was they didn't firm up the additional 10 options going for the cheap, which would be helpful now due to operation mess. They could have also traded in 31 A330ceo for 40 A330-900neo, instead of just 21 A330ceo.

[flee 5]

48 minutes ago, JuliusWong said:

I think the credit ratings and credit terms were not in MH's favour. They were technically bankrupt back then, no financial institutions would give them a low/ lower interest rate for loan. The A330 was on its end of production run, Airbus would have offered them a good deal to take them. The only issue was they didn't firm up the additional 10 options going for the cheap, which would be helpful now due to operation mess. They could have also traded in 31 A330ceo for 40 A330-900neo, instead of just 21 A330ceo.

Frankly I don't think finance is an issue as the government can set up SPVs, as in the past, if commercial financing is difficult. Bottom line is MAG business development and fleet planning sucks big time.

[Craig 0]

7 hours ago, Izanee said:

I think KUL-MXP-MAD would be a nice one to fly, or maybe KUL-FRA-MAD (Germany is probably our biggest trade partner in Europe, and MAD is the home to OW partner, IB). That will kill 2 birds with one stone and regain their visibility in Europe. 

makes sense to leave AMS to partner KLM - shame that KL809 is still operated by 789 rather than 77W like previously. Perhaps with MH expansion in Australia, there will be space for larger aircraft on the AMS route. I know KLM over the years have stopped completely relying on KUL for onward feed and has added codeshare connections via SIN/CAN. 

Those 1 stop flight, especially if not flown daily, are very costly to operate. And for pax to say MAD, they'd have a one stop service which pretty much will drive down air tickets price (because they'd be competing against the likes of ME4 + TK). And for a traveler going beyond MAD or connecting at KUL, that's a 2-stop service. MAD is too far south and west for EU connections (same case with LHR) but great for LatAm and US connections. I have no idea what the demand between LatAm and KL is like but I doubt it's high. In fact, there are no good OW connecting hubs in Europe for European connections.

At its peak, we had 17 weekly flights KUL-AMS. 7x KUL-AMS on MH 772, and then 7x AMS-KUL-CGK on KL 777 and 3x terminator AMS-KUL on KL 777.

[Craig 0]

MH will resume BKI-HND. A rather odd and expensive route with 2 weekly flights to a new airport in Tokyo. I am curious if they are just sitting on slots at this time for future KUL-HND. Maybe they should do BKI-ICN to preserve MH 34/35 slots.

[JuliusWong 0]

Missed this news earlier this month. It was during NZ PM Christopher Luxon's visit to KL.

Quote

"Christchurch International Airport Chair Sarah Ottrey joins Prime Minister’s mission to Malaysia and South Korea"

https://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/about-us/who-we-are/media/2024/christchurch-international-airport-chair-sarah-ottrey-joins-prime-ministers-mission/

And with the latest Capt Izham's interview, MH is committed to stay in NZ. Perhaps we will see MH increasing its frequency to AKL and establish a new route to CHC. 

MH would need all the pax numbers they can get for its LHR and soon CDG route. Resumption to BNE is essential too.

[BC Tam 2]

On 9/12/2024 at 11:26 AM, JuliusWong said:

Grapevine fleet movement (and new route development) news and gossips for the next two years:

B737max
Will be receiving one airframe before the end of the year, if Boeing can get their act together.

Boeing strike: Workers overwhelmingly backed the walkout (bbc.com)

That prospect just got dimmer I guess 🙄

[KK Lee 5]

Unless mas to market kangaroo route aggressively, o&d pax volume on kul-cdg and many EU destinations is unlikely to make daily a350 service profitable.

[jahur 0]

Malaysia Airlines boss pledges work culture overhaul after 12 engineers join Singapore carrier

Quote

“We churn out in a year roughly about 60 to 70 engineers, technicians about 100. That is our planning for attrition, retirement and so forth,” Izham told Malaysia’s Business Times.

He added that MAG’s engineering division is bogged by a 40-year culture that is the hardest to change in the firm.

“My number one priority that I’m doing is resetting [the engineering division],” Izham said, adding that he wants to give it a fresh start by incentivising productivity.

1 leave 10 join and then 10 while another 2 seniors left in less than 2 years with bonds paid off in a hurry. How is that sustainable lol? Meanwhile management has been mounting flights as if company has a large workforce and parts are in adequate stocking and there are spare planes.

The CEO has finally said it outloud. The current salary level is unsustainable(but still remains lowest in Malaysia) and they will gamble with breaking the ratio of seniors to freshies to reduce costs. "Tak suka you boleh keluar".

That is why they reduce the basic pay but increased the supposed allowance(but this is hindered by staff mental and health limitation plus global aviation regulation) in the end the take back home pay is not up to par locally hence significant attrition occurs. Even Banks don't look at take back home pay they look at your actual basic pay. Meanwhile the Dato HR was quoted for famously telling every one in townhall "tomorrow you fly Boeing the next day you fly Airbus, Head of pilot department say regulatory forbids it, i say to him then we need to change the regulation! disrupt the authorities! change how airlines should be run!".

Delulu in all sense.

Even the gulfs were started with experienced crew being the largest in ratio. The airline and healthcare industry does not run with a majority of fresh workers. It seems most of the bosses and investors in the stock market are in a delusional phase on the idea of the so called tech start up dream that is run by fresh college grads can be used on so many industry even down to military industry.

 

 

[JuliusWong 0]

Quote

Malaysia Airlines confirms A330neo debut for late 4Q24
By Andrew Curran
16 Sep 2024
https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/144759-malaysia-airlines-confirms-a330neo-debut-for-late-4q24?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawFVLztleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHT7eYqHzwfO6SelD31KG6Qr2VrWh6_HZR1CWrVrur7JL-raQwN-9T3ESRw_aem_FcnSoVTtfih3F4AmPLfScw

The CEO of Malaysia Aviation Group has confirmed Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) will initially send its A330-900N to Melbourne Tullamarine in late November before deploying the aircraft onto Kuala Lumpur-Auckland International in December.

Speaking to Executive Traveller, Izham Ismail said the first of twenty A330-900Ns would arrive in Kuala Lumpur in October and start operating MH148/149 on November 25. The airline currently uses an A330-300 on its twice-daily roundtrips to Melbourne. The new aircraft type will also take over the daily A330-300-operated Auckland flights in late November, and routes to Doha Hamad International and Tokyo Narita in March 2025.

"We are expecting to have five in our fleet by the end of Q1 2025," Ismail said, adding that he wanted to take the current double-daily services to Sydney Kingsford Smith and Melbourne to triple-daily, and go double-daily into Auckland. He said these would provide a good passenger feed for Kuala Lumpur-Paris CDG flights set to start in March.

Question here is are there still seat not allocated for SYD and MEL? I think Malaysia side has maxed out? Or Capt Izham knows something that we don't know (Malaysia gomen is negotiating a new bilateral agreement with Australia gomen?)

[sweekee 0]

One 339 in one 333out,how can they make it to triple daily SYD MEL

[flee 5]

8 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Question here is are there still seat not allocated for SYD and MEL? I think Malaysia side has maxed out? Or Capt Izham knows something that we don't know (Malaysia gomen is negotiating a new bilateral agreement with Australia gomen?)

There is lots of missing bits of information - MAG is loving their position of being an unlisted company as disclosure requirements are a lot more lenient with no Bursa rules governing them. What we know is that KUL-MEL is their premiere route as they received A359 (9M-MAH) for a while and now that is going to be the first A339's route.

[Robert 0]

11 hours ago, JuliusWong said:

Question here is are there still seat not allocated for SYD and MEL? I think Malaysia side has maxed out? Or Capt Izham knows something that we don't know (Malaysia gomen is negotiating a new bilateral agreement with Australia gomen?)

There seems to be a small number of spare seats plus BNE has not been used. 
Are OK/OD using all of their allocation?