Rumour: MH to Cut Inflight Meals Beginning 1 October 2007

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

MH is owned by the following:

 

List of 5 Largest Shareholders:

• Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad 69.34%
• Employees Provident Fund Board 11.27%
• Amanah Raya Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn. Bhd. 4.91%
• HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd 2.99%
• State Financial Secretary Sarawak 2.71%
• Foreign Shareholding 5.82%

There are 1,253,243,916 divided into 1,253,243,865 Ordinary Shares of RM1.00 each. Officially, the Government of Malaysia owned 70% of MH, through PMB.

 

I agree with Izanee. Most flag carriers in the world are state owned. SQ, EK, EY, QR, QF and many more are all owned by their respective governments. But we need to be envied by how professional Temasek (was it?) manages SQ. SQ is undeniably the best example.

[Seth K 3]

I say it's time to sell MH like Proton

Edited September 24, 2007 by Seth K

[Keith T 2]

But we need to be envied by how professional Temasek (was it?) manages SQ. SQ is undeniably the best example.

 

Temasek is only a holding company - where the government's shares in SQ are vested. It is an investment company which also owns tonnes of other things like Singtel, SPH, Mediacorp etc. It doesn't actually manage anything.

 

SQ is run at arm's lengths from the government. Forgot the actual term for this...

 

I believe this would be similar to how a lot of state-owned airlines are run to ensure efficiency.

 

 

[Jessnor Arif 1]

MANY POLITICIANS WILL BE BASHING MH BECAUSE OF THIS ISSUE AND DEMAND THE GOVERNMENT TO INTERFERE. [

 

Maybe not since politicians will definitely be flying in GCC.

 

But one or two politician may mention this in Parliament just for the sake of talking, debating, and of course bashing MH!!

[Izanee 0]

yeah..it will be the ones who did not get a chance to 'taste' MH's GCC or First.

 

[V Wong 0]

While SQ upping its ante with a new class beyond first, MH is spiralling away from its 5 star status in Y. Alas, affected flights are those with high volume of locals, thus the 5 star status would probably not affected.

 

My personal evaluation, MH is already below 5 star, no matter what the Skytrax poll says. You just could not depend on the lovely FAs forever to maintain the status. If I am paying my own fare, it will be AK or non-MH flights from now on, however sad and unpatriotic it may be!

[Isaac 0]

Any idea what the next rumor might be ? How about "we are squeezing more seats into Sardine Class" ?

[Keith T 2]

Any idea what the next rumor might be ? How about "we are squeezing more seats into Sardine Class" ?

 

At least they're clearly marked as rumour until confirmed by evidence, and not passed off as facts to start with - one of the many reasons why I stopped reading a.net ages ago.

Edited September 25, 2007 by Keith T

[Walter Sim 1]

Malaysia Airlines will introduce meal boxes for its economy class passengers on its regional short-haul flights effective 1 October 2007.

 

Customers can look forward to a variety of offerings comprising savoury sandwiches, fruit yoghurt, fresh fruits, crunchy snacks or sweet muffin, depending on the time of the day. Child meals and special meals including vegetarian will also be offered.

 

Customers will continue to enjoy unlimited inflight beverages such as coffee, tea and fruit juices.

 

Assistant General Manager, Inflight Services, Azman Ahmad said, "We are delighted to offer these meal boxes in response to our customers' requests. Our inflight survey reveals that a large proportion of our passengers prefer light meal boxes which we then filled with the top five food items that they chose.

 

"The result is a more wholesome offering, promoting healthy eating and a well-balanced diet, while providing our passengers with the option of taking away the boxes."

 

He added, "This is one of the many initiatives that we will progressively roll out to provide our customers with a new dining experience on board. Our initiatives are benchmarked against the best carriers in the region and are aimed at delighting our passengers."

 

The meal boxes which replace the current conventional economy class meals will be introduced progressively, starting with the Indochina flights between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Yangon and Bangkok.

 

On the domestic front, passengers traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Miri and Kota Kinabalu will also be able to enjoy this new offering.

 

The meal boxes will be offered on the remaining regional sectors by January

2008.

 

Certainly not me... HOT MEALS ALL THE WAY MAN!!

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

And the article confirmes that it is not running on trial basis. More destinations to follow suit. By the way, which newspaper published the article?

[Keith T 2]

And the article confirmes that it is not running on trial basis. More destinations to follow suit. By the way, which newspaper published the article?

 

It's an MH media release.

[Ewan Shamsudin 0]

The newspaper article: an excellent piece of PR write up!

 

What would have been the icing on the cake is a passing mention that "MH is considering lowering the fare following a cost reduction reseulting from this change." or something like that!

 

Anyway, I wonder if the unlimited drinks mentioned include Pepsi Light with ice.

[Walter Sim 1]

On the domestic front, passengers traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Miri and Kota Kinabalu will also be able to enjoy this new offering.

This guy is good man, making this el cheapo snackbox sound so heavenly......

 

The press release is from MH website as Keith said. I don't know who in the world would prefer snackboxes than whole traditional hot meals.......

 

Theres a sneek peek too

AhMoi posing with SnackBox.

Edited September 28, 2007 by Walter Sim

[V Wong 0]

MH - Spin doctors and con-sultans paradise!

[KK Lee 5]

 

Wonder how long can MH charge premium fare (if compared with AK) while giving marginal better service than LCC.

 

Given the relative poor service (if compared with other legacy airlines); can foresee, MH fare and yield will be lower than TG, SQ, CX, UL, EK in years to come. Doubt the saving on snack box will ever can compensate the drop in marginal operation income.

 

Won’t be surprise to see a sharp drop in comparative EY pax load from 2Q/08. Also means, this snack box can only help them to dress the book for six months at most. There is no doubt, they can always reintroduce or ‘upgrade’ to hot meals service later but damage to pax goodwill will need months if not years to repair.

 

Believe for MH to survive, instead of comparing with LCC, MH should upgrade it perceived value to justify the premium fare e.g. increase seat pitch to 34” on narrow body and 36” on widebodies, better meals service else MH will forever caught in the downward spiral

 

 

[V Wong 0]

All the spinning about 'passengers preference' for snack box is repulsive and insult to intelligence.

 

Instead of taking competition head on with regional legacy carriers, MH has buried its head into a hole on local ground, happily engaging in price and service war with AK, of a totally different league altogether.

 

Despite the brick-bats, AK is continuously re-inventing itself and taking on the likes of big players with its soon to be launched long haul programme.

 

A new landmark in your history - way to go MAS!

[mokhzani 0]

Even the street vendor "nasi lemak bungkus" is more appetising than this. Pathetic

[Mushrif A 3]

"Our initiatives are benchmarked against the best carriers in the region and are aimed at delighting our passengers."

 

So, I wonder what the result was from benchmarking against SQ? MH probably came out as a distant second with the stupid mealbox initiative. Of course, we don't know what the definition of "best carriers" here meant. Maybe MH compared themselves against Merpati, Airasia, Air Zamboanga and Berjaya Air.

 

I think MH will alienate quite a number of pax, who are more inclined towards rice and noodle based hot food. Since when has sandwiches and muffins become the main choice of food of people in SE Asia? MH would have been a great airline if that meal box was instead used for services within Peninsula or intra-East M'sia or flights to S'pore - all within the 1hr range.

 

The only thing missing in the MH press release above is an ounce of honesty - i.e. stating the fact that it was done merely to squeeze a few more dollars for the sake of the bottom-line.

[Keith T 2]

All the spinning about 'passengers preference' for snack box is repulsive and insult to intelligence.

 

Or maybe the 'inflight survey' was something like, "Would you prefer to have snack boxes for inflight meals, or be hit on the head with a stick upon boarding each flight?"

Edited September 28, 2007 by Keith T

[Mushrif A 3]

Why don't we all let MH know what we think of this stupid idea? We can either call the MH's media lady (details at the end of the press release on MH's website), or use the online customer care feedback form or write strightin/ call to that Mr Azman Ahmad.This is indeed a disappointing move by MH. TG, Vietnam and SQ should exploit this by advertising what MH no longer offers on the affected routes.

Or maybe the 'inflight survey' was something like, "Would you prefer to have snack boxes for inflight meals, or be hit on the head with a stick upon boarding each flight?"

Yes, I think that was the question. Or a snack box or no meals at all?

[Yusoff 1]

Sad to see MH's service kinda heading downhill... even more sad to see MH trying to make el cheapo sounds el grande. "Becoming A 5 Star Carrier With LCCs Cost", " .... passengers traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Miri and Kota Kinabalu will also be able to enjoy this new offering". C'mon man!... :(

 

We all aware that MH is trying to regain the revenue, etc. but not by doing these crap that can drop MH's value. I agree with everybody else: give those 'big-shots-do-nothing-take-alot' a very big axe and bring in those who really are capable. Remove 'Palpatine'!! Remove 'Palpatine'!!

[V Wong 0]

Aye! Aye! Hear! Hear!

Remove palpatine! Remove palpatine!

 

The credibility of the whole management team who came up with and sanctioned the idea of this 'delightful offering' must be seriously questioned. The amount of work/money/time/personnel spent in creating this product could have been channeled into other more profitable causes.

 

MAS scored yet another feather in its illustrious cap - the dubious honour of being the first '5-star' airliner to introduce 'revolutionary' (IMO) snack box for regional flights. Watch this space, in future, this product will prove to be so popular and 'delightful' that every other airline will follow suit, thus the revolutionary tag. Not the SQ 777-300ER, not the SQ A380 Suites, it is the snack box that will change the face of aviation in this region. MAS is a leader, the rest are laggards..... why had the other carriers not thought about it first?

 

P.S. I suddenly have a distinct dislike to the word 'delightful'...

 

 

[Robin 0]

what is the coverage of regional flight? 4 hours and below?? If yes, HK, Guangzhou, Taipei all included!!

[V Wong 0]

Is there really any point in complaining to MAS? As mentioned, a lot of effort was put in creating this product - in terms of market research, profit and loss calculation,design, food tasting, pilot testing on passengers, etc.... (I hope)

 

Anyway, hypothetical response from management team goes along this vein:

 

Foreign con-sultan:

 

"Really, darling! We were educated in Eton, play cricket, wear Hilditch and Key shirt, Harvie and Hudson ties, Church's shoes, family crest signet ring in 18k rose gold on right pinkie.... surely, sandwich and English muffin is our staple diet. Not to forget, we serve it with unlimited amount of Darjeeling from Assam!"

 

 

Local con-sultan:

 

"What man! We oredi give you KLIA, aerobridge, allocated seat, good seat pitch... still want to komplen. Go and fly AK la, like that. Oredi got peanut, oren jus. Now just change to sanvis and mafin, make so much noise. You will not starve la. At least, nonit to buy food on board, OK. You think what, we are free sky buffet? Eat-all-u-want?"

 

Sorry, I sort of lost control....

[Rozhan 0]

The divine management headed by IJ has stooped to a historic low level just so to make themselves look good and appear as brilliant bunch of people that has 'managed' to turnaround an ailing airline. What I see is they have raped the airline into insignificance and have the cheek to suggest this is what customers want for the money they pay!