MAS A380 - Fleet to be Retained

[Waiping 12]

Well it's more than a welcoming sight if the A380 does fly to/from BKI, even on domestic run. Never mind from China.

[S V Choong 4]

Has the A380 ever landed on Borneo soil?

[BC Tam 2]

from
http://www.independent.ie/business/article34862262.ece

The huge A380s - Malaysia Airlines has six - will be retained by the carrier and used for charter services

What, a dedicated fleet of six A380s for charter operations ?!
There must be some re-definition/re-engineering of that market segment ongoing that we have not heard about on this here forum

Times like these, you just but yearn for a few words of wisdom from Captain Nik

 

 

 

Interestingly, the new CEO has his anchors - his family - firmly relocated to Malaysia.

Firmness of that relocation qualified with intended timeline .....

"The plan is to get Malaysia Airlines to the stock market in 2019. After that, I think I'll be trying to head back to the green pastures of Ireland."

​I admire the blunt honesty there

Edited July 8, 2016 by BC Tam

[flee 5]

What, a dedicated fleet of six A380s for charter operations ?!

I think that there is a market for charters - the airlines have not taken the charter market seriously in the past. With many packaged tour operators in this country, airlines like MAB should try to engage all of them.

 

Other than the established Haj/Umrah tours, there are also destinations that tour operators go to that are not served by scheduled Malaysian airlines. They have also done the football club/sports charters before and should continue doing so. The charter market worth developing to keep the A380s flying.

 

Since there is no resale market for the A380's, MAB has no choice but to keep them and look at ways to bring in revenue. Other than the charter markets, they should be looking to wet lease the aircraft once the A380s are taken off the LHR route.

[KK Lee 5]

I think that there is a market for charters - the airlines have not taken the charter market seriously in the past. With many packaged tour operators in this country, airlines like MAB should try to engage all of them.

 

Other than the established Haj/Umrah tours, there are also destinations that tour operators go to that are not served by scheduled Malaysian airlines. They have also done the football club/sports charters before and should continue doing so. The charter market worth developing to keep the A380s flying.

 

Since there is no resale market for the A380's, MAB has no choice but to keep them and look at ways to bring in revenue. Other than the charter markets, they should be looking to wet lease the aircraft once the A380s are taken off the LHR route.

Believe currently the largest charter market is ex China. Not too sure, mab could be competitive or understand Chinese market.

 

Doubt mab could be sustainable with ad hoc charter.

Edited July 10, 2016 by KK Lee

[BC Tam 2]

I think that there is a market for charters - the airlines have not taken the charter market seriously in the past. With many packaged tour operators in this country, airlines like MAB should try to engage all of them.

Be that as it may, you reckon there is sufficient justification there to keep the 380s in service ? All six of them ?! Even one ?

The 380 novelty value has worked well on Umrah charters I think, but as with all novelty values, it is by definition time restricted I suppose

[Ashley Lee 0]

Not sure if this video has been posted before, but a pretty nifty clip on MH's A388.

 

Disclaimer: I am not promoting JustPlanes

 

 

[Robert 0]

Picked this up from twitter and couldn't see it posted elsewhere on the forum

 

http://www.airlive.net/video-malaysia-airlines-a380-landing-at-heathrow/

 

http://www.worldairroutes.com/malaysia380.html

[Mr.Bandit 0]

-MNC is now in service after a long check inside the hangar.

[flee 5]

Peter Bellew, CEO & Group MD Malaysia Airlines Berhad:

 

 

What about the future of your six Airbus A380s?

The A380s will be phased out in 2018 … The A380 is a complex aircraft to operate. We’ve found out that the best economic performance you can get out of it is on seven or eight hour- long flight sectors, not on the 12 to 14 hours we do to London. The A380s will be replaced by six A350-900s, which will operate on the London route, with one A350 maybe flying to New Zealand or North Asia. The A350s are expected to be delivered from October 2017 through 2018. And if I could pick up some Airbus A330s with Pratt & Whitney engines on the market, I would do it immediately. These aircraft offer low costs. We could add three or four A330s to our current fleet of 15 easily.

 

http://atwonline.com/airlines/interview-peter-bellew-ceo-group-md-malaysia-airlines-berhad

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Based on that info, if they can't retire the 6 A380s, it should be deployed to Australia and North Asia.

[flee 5]

... and also for Haj charters and maybe scheduled services to Saudi Arabia.

[Vicknesh PS 0]

Based on this "We’ve found out that the best economic performance you can get out of it is on seven or eight hour- long flight sectors " .....yes Australia maybe a better route for the A380 once the A350 arrives. Hopefully our load factors improve to justify its use.

[flee 5]

Based on this "We’ve found out that the best economic performance you can get out of it is on seven or eight hour- long flight sectors " .....yes Australia maybe a better route for the A380 once the A350 arrives. Hopefully our load factors improve to justify its use.

The odd thing about Australia is that MH prefers to have more frequency than deploy larger aircraft. Furthermore, the bilateral air services agreement limits have been reached for MEL/SYD and they cannot provide more capacity. If A380s go to Australia without a new agreement in place, they will have to cut back on frequency.

[BC Tam 2]

Based on that info, if they can't retire the 6 A380s, it should be deployed to Australia and North Asia.

Fly them on BKI-PER and BKI-NRT

If too many seats in dugongs to fill, change to a once monthly frequency

[Mr.Bandit 0]

Any plan to introduce premium economy on A380 later if they failed to get the buyer?

[Mushrif A 3]

Economy plus is planned for early 2017 anyway on the A333 and upper deck 380. Not premium economy as essentially same Y seat. Just remove a row or so, and space out the remaining rows for slightly more pitch.

 

I understand that the two Y rows behind biz on the reconfigured 330 will be adjusted again for the Y+ launch. MH couldnt do it yet due to some certification issue, according to what I read.

[KK Lee 5]

Edited September 3, 2016 by KK Lee

[Kris Kim 0]

The odd thing about Australia is that MH prefers to have more frequency than deploy larger aircraft. Furthermore, the bilateral air services agreement limits have been reached for MEL/SYD and they cannot provide more capacity. If A380s go to Australia without a new agreement in place, they will have to cut back on frequency.

 

Nope, bi-laterals have not been reached yet. D7 has not added any new capacity into MEL/SYD/PER, they have only reinstated services back to x2 daily, with the exception of MEL which goes 17 weekly in the peak (new). MH has chopped a daily each from MEL/SYD/PER and completely axed BNE, thats an extra 4 daily services worth of seats that became available, so there is plenty of space left in the bi-lateral for MH to add seats, if they want too that is.

 

I think both MEL and SYD are comfortable at x2 daily each, it provides good feed to MH's network and onwards to LHR. If they can't sell the A380, could they send 1 daily to MEL and SYD each? In this scenario I would personally keep 1 daily LHR flight for feed from MEL and SYD, with the other daily flight operated by the A350. The now freed up A350 could be used to re-open AMS/FRA/CDG?

 

I forgot that OD started PER! But there's still plenty of room left in the bi-lateral for MH to increase services/seats!

Edited September 3, 2016 by Kris Kim

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Malaysia Airlines in talks to offload A380s to Chinese operators

• In talks with carriers in China and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries about offloading its six Airbus Group SE A380 jets
• Also negotiating with Airbus to add 90 more seats to each of the superjumbos in order to make them more marketable while retaining the aircraft in a two or three class configuration
• If direct buyers aren’t found Malaysia Airlines is prepared to offer the planes for lease with access to its A380 simulator, or complete with pilots and cabin crew
• Perceptions of the company have now greatly improved both in Malaysia and the crucial Chinese market, which is again one of the strongest for the airline. Demand levels from Australia and New Zealand are less stable because of overcapacity

Source: http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/malaysia-airlines-talks-offload-a380s-chinese-operators?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

 

 

Really hoping this new plan with the Chinese goes through.

[flee 5]

This might work - the Chinese have been buying up a lot of Malaysian assets recently.

[KK Lee 5]

This might work - the Chinese have been buying up a lot of Malaysian assets recently.

Caac or Chinese mot is unlikely to consent to buy used aircraft without strategic reason.

[Sandeep G 1]

China troop transport!

[BC Tam 2]

Caac or Chinese mot is unlikely to consent to buy used aircraft without strategic reason.

I reckon they should be ok with it as long as it makes money sense and no one go make a song and dance out of it

Note AK has already offloaded a few of their birds, young and old, to Chinese carriers

[S V Choong 4]

Now where does China Southern send their A380s to? From what I know they use that domestically between Beijing and Guangzhou. The ever congested airspace in China make sense too to have less frequency with smaller birds but more density with bigger birds.

 

I would like to see Air China increase their 747-8i orders though!