More Air Rights For Cargo & Passenger flights To China

[Seng Lim 0]

Latest news from Bernama:

2 interesting points is :

 

frequency of Malaysian and Chinese passenger and cargo flights between them would increase by 25 per cent to 125 per week using any type of aircraft.

 

Low-cost Air Asia is scheduled to begin flights from Kota Kinabalu to Xiamen and Shenzhen by the end of the year

 

 

BEIJING, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has secured more air rights in China and significantly, permission for cargo freighters to operate from several Chinese cities to third destinations in Europe, Central Asia and the US.

 

The two countries inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU), here Wednesday which comes into effect immediately, expanding the scope of services which also allows airlines from both countries to enter into code-sharing arrangements to third countries.

 

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, who signed on behalf of Malaysia, hailed the pact as a milestone development in aviation cooperation, saying it underlined the close relations between the two countries.

 

Yang Yuanyuan, Minister of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, said the MoU would create more business and cooperation opportunities for the two countries.

 

"It is now up to Malaysian airlines to tap the opportunities in China which are growing tremendously. They can now pick up cargo from China and fly to other destinations," Chan told newsmen when asked how Malaysia could maximise the benefits when Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had planned to reduce flights to China.

 

The agreement comes ahead of an "open skies" policy between the two countries which is expected to start by 2010.

 

Under the MoU, the frequency of Malaysian and Chinese passenger and cargo flights between them would increase by 25 per cent to 125 per week using any type of aircraft.

 

Currently, Malaysian carriers operate 47 weekly flights to China which in turn flies 34 times a week into Malaysia.

 

For Malaysian cargo carriers the good news is that they can now operate three times a week to Shanghai and four times a week to Hangzhou and onwards to Dubai or to Central Asia from the two Chinese cities and twice a week to Nanjing before flying to Malmo or Gothenburg in Sweden.

 

China would also permit Malaysian carriers to fly seven times a week between central and western China to two destinations in the US and four weekly services between Shanghai and Wilmington or Columbus in Ohio.

 

"With the new cargo routes to the US, Malaysian carriers will stop the service between Shanghai and Cincinnati and in return, the Chinese cargo freighters would have unlimited reciprocal arrangements from Malaysia," Chan said.

 

Chan said under the MoU, Malaysia and Chinese airlines could embark on code-sharing arrangements and use leased aircraft for their respective domestic and overseas destinations to expand passenger services.

 

"MAS and China's biggest fleet operator, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines, are finalising a code-sharing deal which will enable passengers from Malaysia to travel to domestic or international destinations served by the Chinese airliner and vice-versa.

 

"China has also offered Malaysian carriers open access to southern Hainan province," he said.

 

Currently, MAS flies to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming and Chengdu. The national carrier has stopped services to Xian and will terminate its run to Chengdu at the end of the month.

Low-cost Air Asia is scheduled to begin flights from Kota Kinabalu to Xiamen and Shenzhen by the end of the year.

 

In his meeting with Yang, Chan also sought China's support for Malaysia's bid to become a council member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

 

This is the first time Malaysia is seeking to be among the 36-member council after 30 years as a member of the organisation.

 

[Pieter C. 5]

Guess, the KK-Shenzhen route will be quite popular, if the fares are (much) lower than the KK-HKG ones...

[BC Tam 2]

My guess is Shenzhen/BKI will do quite well - hope it doesn't mean MH and KA cutting back on their frequencies though. Not so sure about Xiamen/BKI though - MH had a go with lots of promo but still gave up in the end (but then with MH, it has always been hit and run imo !)

 

Interestingly, if one care to browse through AK's schedule (the one in pdf format), BKI-MFM vv is listed to commence end Oct. However, don't see the service being offered for sale though.

[Seng Lim 0]

I've been to Xiamen before, it's a small city and the airport is just right next to the Xiamen Port.

Compared to Shenzhen, Shenzhen is definitely more appealing for most Malaysian as it's a shopping heaven and very close to HKG as well.

[I. Wong 0]

Currently, AK's KUL-MFM route has been very popular among many budget travellers from Malaysia. They use this route as an entry point to HK and southern China. AK should seriously consider flying to Taiwan too as many budget travellers are currently going down to SIN to catch JetStar to TPE. Flight from KUL to Xiamen is also feasible.

 

[Seng Lim 0]

Yes I do agree TPE is a good choice. However flying time from KUL to TPE is about 4.5 hours which might be too long for AK. From BKI to TPE is 3H20M which is just nice.

[I. Wong 0]

But Jet Star manage to fly their A320 from SIN to TPE and I think that might not be a problem.

[Seng Lim 0]

Yes, technically there's no problems (Since CI also fly B738 to TPE). I'm actually referring to the low cost airline business model - short flights and fast turnaround times (allowing maximum utilization of planes) which is usually below 3.5 to 4 hours. However AK can consider those midnight red eye flights for longer route like TPE if they want to maximised the utilisation of the aircraft.

[Sandeep G 1]

This is indeed good news, but does MASKargo and MAS have the capacity for expansion?? or perhaps we will see more Chinese airlines here in KUL

[S V Choong 4]

If it is cheaper for me to go from BKI - SZX then BKI - HKG, then I will do BKI-SZX by all means. However, one will still need to take into account of time for Chinese visa application and travel to HKG by bus or boat from Shenzhen Baoan airport.

[Pieter C. 5]

More rights = Good news for both parties

 

MAS and China Southern are in final talks to launch a new code-share agreement which will see MAS accessing CZ's network within China and in return CZ will be able to tap into MAS regional and onward connections via KUL.

 

Again - this shows MAS' continuing effort to integrate itself into Skyteam's network of partners despite Air France's continued obstinence. AF reinforced its code-share with Qantas recently further undermining MAS' hopes that AF will start flights to KUL and from there, place AF passengers on MH flights onwards to Australia and NZ.

 

MAS is also continuing talks with Alitalia on the joint-development of the KUL-Rome (for passengers) and KUL-Milan (for cargo) routes. Rumours are abound that Aeroflot will return to KUL in Summer 2007 and MAS is keen to negotiate with the Russians in offering SU similar code-sharing benefits that KLM currently enjoys at Kuala Lumpur.

 

MAS and Korean Air recently also agreed to expand their code-share network at their respective hubs and MAS is currently contemplating expansion of its current code-share with KLM to include trans-atlantic traffic.

 

This code-share also comes as preparations are detailed for China and Malaysia to enter an open-skies agreement by 2010 allowing for unlimited growth and traffic between the two countries by their respective carriers.

 

[Sandeep G 1]

well, it's all happening in the talking department I hope the walking department keeps up

 

This is really crunch time for Malaysia's Aviation Industry and a time where we can really capitalise on our geographical and economic location! China and India - they are poised to be the future world leaders. We sit nicely between the two with years of development and sophisticated infrastructure. But we have to maintain that! and the Airline industry is essential to our growth - thus avenues such as Skyteam.

 

Pieter, isn't it true that AF have loosened up about MAS which is indicated by the additional flights to CDG by MAS?

[Pieter C. 5]

Pieter, isn't it true that AF have loosened up about MAS which is indicated by the additional flights to CDG by MAS?

 

Yes, I think so; do not forget, KLM is now part of the board-of-directors of the AF-KL holding, and given the excellent cooperation between MH and KL on the KUL-(and AU/NZ) routes, they might have eased their minds...

 

[Isaac 0]

If it is cheaper for me to go from BKI - SZX then BKI - HKG, then I will do BKI-SZX by all means.

It's definately gonna be cheaper simply because it's AK. But a warning from me, they won't treat you like human being, they will treat you like sardine

 

 

[KK Lee 5]

 

This is really crunch time for Malaysia's Aviation Industry and a time where we can really capitalise on our geographical and economic location! China and India - they are poised to be the future world leaders. We sit nicely between the two with years of development and sophisticated infrastructure. But we have to maintain that! and the Airline industry is essential to our growth - thus avenues such as Skyteam.

 

 

MH had a few more routes to India and China but was discontinued in ‘route rationization’ recently. The basic problem was, MH failed to provide convenient transit to feed these pax to trans-pacific, Aussie or other regional routes.

 

Mas Kargo is dong very well for freight from China to Europe and the US.

 

Just my 2 cents