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Mohd Azizul Ramli

MAS A380 - Fleet to be Retained

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More on to QF i believe.. :D

QF is probably able to get better yields on other routes. So SYD-KUL is not high on its list of priorities.

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Hi all, bit of a long shot but can anyone tell me the reason behind a tech delay I had on MH004 on the 4th Feb. Was on this 380 and had 2 hour delay. As I am an aircraft engineer by trade, was curious as to the reason. For info the flight only had about 150pax! Not very good loads. Shame as the product is very good, excellent service.

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Malaysia Airlines Set To Start Daily A380 Flights To Paris March 1

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines is all set to operate its daily A380 Kuala Lumpur-Paris-Kuala Lumpur flight service beginning March 1 with the arrival of the fifth A380 at the KL International Airport (KLIA) Saturday.

 

The French capital will be the second European destination after London in the national flag carrier's long haul network to be operated by the superjumbo, the company said in a statement here Saturday.

 

The 494-seater Airbus 380 daily services to Paris will be rolled out to replace the current 282 seat B777 operations, increasing daily seat capacity by 75 per cent effective March 1.

 

The national carrier said that economy class travel from Kuala Lumpur on the state-of-art A380 was now possible at all inclusive return airfares starting from only RM3,681.

 

Meanwhile, the all-inclusive promotional return fares for Business Class from Kuala Lumpur to Paris start from RM15,026 while return First Class fares start from RM31,491.

 

The A380 service has thus far received encouraging response from customers for both Kuala Lumpur-Paris and Paris-Kuala Lumpur sectors.

 

Malaysia Airlines said booking trends for March 2013 showed a positive hike by 87 per cent for Kuala Lumpur-Paris route and a stunning 123 per cent growth for Paris-Kuala Lumpur route as compared to bookings in March 2012.

 

Its membership of the oneworld alliance from Feb 1, also contributed to this positive development.

 

Meanwhile, MASholidays, the travel and tour arm of Malaysia Airlines, is offering three exclusive yet incredibly affordable and promotional tour packages from Malaysia to Paris in conjunction with the national carrier's commencement of A380 services to the French capital.

 

The national carrier is also engaging a French chef, Amandine Chaignot to design the menu for its A380 Paris - Kuala Lumpur route.

 

Malaysia Airlines' A380 has a seat configuration of 494 comprising eight First Class and 350 Economy Class seats on the main deck and 66 Business Class and 70 Economy Class seats on the upper deck.

 

It is the eighth operator of this super-jumbo.

 

Customers can book their travel on Malaysia Airlines through all distribution channels, mainly www.malaysiaairlines.com, Malaysia Airlines 24 hours toll free number 1 300 88 3000, MHmobile app, MHBuddy in Malaysia Airlines Facebook, Malaysia Airlines ticket offices and appointed agents throughout Malaysia.

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From The Sun: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/621419

 

Analysts predict price war on KL-Paris route

 

PETALING JAYA (Feb 25, 2013): Analysts expect an airfare war to break out on flights to Paris in the next few months as Air France mounts flights from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to the French capital in April, which follows Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) announcement that it would deploy its massive Airbus 380 superjumbo on the route that is already not too popular among Malaysians.

 

The national carrier will fly its 494-seat A380 on the route, replacing its existing daily 282-seater Boeing 777 services, beginning March 1.

 

An analyst at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) told SunBiz that the flights to Paris combined would bring the number of seats to some 500,000 a year.

 

"This could create a bit of concern. MAS currently has a monopoly on the route (in terms of direct flights) which AirAsia X used to fly, but stopped. It doesn't seem like a route that's really popular," he said.

 

"Malaysia for French people, is not their cup of tea. Furthermore, the France-Malaysia economic ties are just so-so," he added.

 

The long-haul arm of budget carrier AirAsia Bhd had previously operated four weekly flights between KL and Paris in February 2011, but ceased the flights in April last year. citing high fuel cost, the European Union's emissions trading system and the escalating airport taxes.

 

The Maybank IB analyst said for MAS to do well on the KL-Paris route on the A380, the flag carrier would need to have good passenger loads over the whole year as the number of seats have increased.

 

"But based on the history of this route, there is not much demand. We are not seeing it in the tourist arrivals.

 

"As for Malaysians flying to Paris, the number is still very small compared with Malaysians flying to the UK and China. We also don't see many passengers using the Paris flights to get to other parts of Europe," he added.

 

Thus the likelihood that a price war will break out is quite high.

 

"If there is a price war, MAS would have a better chance of 'winning' the war because they have flown the route much longer and have a better aircraft to serve the needs of the passengers," he added. Air France-KLM will use a B777-200ER on the route.

 

Last month, MAS had unveiled that the A380 daily services to Paris will be rolled out to replace the current 282-seater B777-200 operations, increasing its daily seat capacity by 75%. The A380 will also offer a first class cabin to passengers.

 

According to Tourism Malaysia statistics, France was ranked 15th in terms of tourist arrivals in Malaysia with 136,172 tourists recorded last year, a 6.4% increase from 127,980 tourists recorded in 2011.

 

MAS had originally planned to utilise the A380 for flights to Sydney, but shelved the plan to focus on London and Paris instead.

 

A MIDF Research analyst said Air France's success on the KL-Paris route will hinge on its airfares as there are not many direct flights to Paris currently.

 

"Since it is a direct flight, if they (Air France) can offer attractive airfares then they will be able to meet the 85% load factor target."

 

He also foresees passenger load factor for both Air France and MAS flights to Paris to be less than to London due to demand.

 

He said demand from Europe and Paris for flights to Malaysia is not strong due to the economic crisis, while Malaysians traveling overseas traditionally chose London over Paris.

 

"Only Malaysians with higher spending power will fly to Paris. Furthermore, more and more airlines are focusing regionally and expanding their route in Asia instead, For example, Singapore Airlines has increased its frequency to China and Australia," he added.

 

Air France-KLM country manager for Malaysia, Estee Ng said the entry of Air France complements current flights offered by KLM here.

 

"It (price war) remains to be seen because Air France and MAS have different flight schedules.

"But we are going ahead to give our customers better service offerings by having both brands here."

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It's not the France-Malaysia market that's MH is setting their sights on.

 

It's the market beyond Malaysia, especially Indonesia that's the key.

I have never had high regard for analysts in this country, especially when they "analyse" the aviation sector. They also ignored the effect of ETS and the UK's APD.

 

And what do they mean by France-Malaysia business isn't that big? Isn't Malaysia one of Airbus' biggest customores?

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From The Sun: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/621419

 

"Malaysia for French people, is not their cup of tea. Furthermore, the France-Malaysia economic ties are just so-so," he added.

 

"But based on the history of this route, there is not much demand. We are not seeing it in the tourist arrivals.

 

"As for Malaysians flying to Paris, the number is still very small compared with Malaysians flying to the UK and China. We also don't see many passengers using the Paris flights to get to other parts of Europe," he added.

 

He said demand from Europe and Paris for flights to Malaysia is not strong due to the economic crisis, while Malaysians traveling overseas traditionally chose London over Paris.

 

"Only Malaysians with higher spending power will fly to Paris.

 

Air France-KLM country manager for Malaysia, Estee Ng said the entry of Air France complements current flights offered by KLM here.

 

I tend to believe the opposite. Malaysians with higher spending power will choose London over Paris. Airfares wise alone, any flight from London to KUL will beat out the same from Paris anytime, much due to the UK's very high APD tax.

 

There is a synergy created between KL and AF following AF's entry in KUL. I read somewhere that KL will decrease its flights from the present 10 weekly to 7 weekly once AF starts serving KUL, to balance out the supply offered by Skyteam.

 

Hopefully MH has something to surprise us with this massive supply increase to CDG (I would not take anything lesser than an AF-MH code share to Australia as an answer).

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Using the A380 is a very good idea on MH's part. There is a quite a good deal of passenger traffic between Australia and France, and I think MH wants to take advantage of this.

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interesting..the 100th A380 goes to our very own MAS (MNF), thought that it will go to Emirates or SIA.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xfwspotter/8509429567/

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xfwspotter/8510553790/in/photostream/

Edited by Fairul

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I always wanted to ask about the windows in the first class section.

 

I noticed MH only have 8 windows in their first class section and I did not see any other airlines adopting similar configuration on their A380.

 

Any reasons why. From inside the cabin, it looks claustrophobic to me especially from a window seat guy like me.

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I always wanted to ask about the windows in the first class section.

 

I noticed MH only have 8 windows in their first class section and I did not see any other airlines adopting similar configuration on their A380.

 

Any reasons why. From inside the cabin, it looks claustrophobic to me especially from a window seat guy like me.

 

SQ does. rows 1-2 and 4 have only 2 windows each. Row 3 has 3 though.

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interesting..the 100th A380 goes to our very own MAS (MNF), thought that it will go to Emirates or SIA.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xfwspotter/8509429567/

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xfwspotter/8510553790/in/photostream/

 

100th A380 for MH in return for additional order of aircrafts maybe?? :D

Edited by nrazmoor

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I always wanted to ask about the windows in the first class section.

 

I noticed MH only have 8 windows in their first class section and I did not see any other airlines adopting similar configuration on their A380.

 

Any reasons why. From inside the cabin, it looks claustrophobic to me especially from a window seat guy like me.

Each window seat in the First class section only has access to 2 windows. The way the cubicle is designed, a 3rd window will be out of reach of the passenger, which is why they've permanently closed that window. It is definitely not claustrophobic. I have travelled in that cabin and it feels spacious yet cozy/intimate. A big thumbs up from me!

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Each window seat in the First class section only has access to 2 windows. The way the cubicle is designed, a 3rd window will be out of reach of the passenger, which is why they've permanently closed that window. It is definitely not claustrophobic. I have travelled in that cabin and it feels spacious yet cozy/intimate. A big thumbs up from me!

 

Thanks Josh.

 

Thought it would be nicer to have all windows open like TG. I believe MH and TG have almost similar seat design and from the pic below, TG cabin looks more spacious with no blocked windows.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Thai-Airways-International/Airbus-A380-841/2216327/&sid=90b6a576910633615fdc0e6dfbae8d92

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Thanks Josh.

 

Thought it would be nicer to have all windows open like TG. I believe MH and TG have almost similar seat design and from the pic below, TG cabin looks more spacious with no blocked windows.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Thai-Airways-International/Airbus-A380-841/2216327/&sid=90b6a576910633615fdc0e6dfbae8d92

 

TG's cabin feels a bit LESS spacious. It's on the upper deck which is somewhat narrower

 

I've flown MH, SQ, TG (and KE and EK) 380 in F and trust me - NONE of them are by any means claustrophobic at all. There are worse ways to travel....

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I've flown MH, SQ, TG (and KE and EK) 380 in F and trust me - NONE of them are by any means claustrophobic at all. There are worse ways to travel....

 

Suzanne,

 

Thanks for sharing. Any plan for a trip report?

 

I have been curious about MH since there has not been a single report on MH F on A.net.

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Suzanne,

 

Thanks for sharing. Any plan for a trip report?

 

I have been curious about MH since there has not been a single report on MH F on A.net.

 

 

You can actually find plenty of her trip reports on SQTalk :D

 

Retired oredi. Tak larat to bring DSLR on plane. :p

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