MH's New ASEAN Destinations

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

I agree with KK Lee that MH should treat this new KUL-CGK-MEL vv service as a new standalone service, without having to disturb the 2 daily KUL-MEL vv operations. I believe MH has an adequate B772 to allow this (if not news about B772s being parked and the possible selling of 9M-MRD - former Heliconia, won't be surfaced). Maybe it may be changed once the economy picks up.

 

To me, having a 5th freedom right to operate CGK-MEL vv is a huge milestone for MH. MH is having a MONOPOLY on the route! What an opportunity to venture out on one of the most underserve route in the world - both Jakarta and Melbourne are thriving cities with many potential business and leisure travellers. Even SQ don't have any rights to operate direct from CGK to anywhere without having to transit via SIN.

 

It reminds me of the DXB-EWR vv route MH once operated, which was dubbed as 'revolutionary' during its time, for out-of-the-box strategy, linking South East Asia to the US East Cost via the Middle East. But as we know, the route started to come tumbling down once the great Emirates ventured in (albeit to/from JFK) and the rest is history. I think what went wrong is that there was no follow up from the government to get extra rights, so that MH could operate the route on a daily frequency. Even until today, there is no other carrier that link New York and Dubai direct non stop other than EK.

 

I hope MH won't make the same mistake with this new CGK-MEL route. MH should start to get the support from GA, by having the Indonesia's flag carrier to code share on the flights, and at the same time the government to push for a daily frequency right. This may also lead to the granting of many other routes out of CGK to Australia to MH (CGK-SYD, CGK-BNE etc), who knows. MH has to do this fast, before GA has the resources to operate the route on their own. GA as we all know only capable of carrying around 10 million passengers per year (both domestic and international) because of its limited resources despite operating from a country with 230 million population, which is fast developping (as a comparison, MH carried around 17-18 million passengers annually). What a huge blow if MH fails in this route too.

 

 

I think this topic should now be rephrased as "MAS Chopping list, Where next?" So any predictions after EWR and ARN folks?

Should there's other route that needed to be axed, I think the top on the list at present is IST. MH operate KUL-DXB-IST 2 weekly, and the DXB stopover was actually introduced recently (from the previous routing KUL-IST vv non stop) using a mix of A332/3. And mind you, MH don't have a 5th freedom right to carry passengers on the DXB-IST vv sector (unlike the DXB-BEY vv sector). The load is pretty much seasonal despite MH having a code share agreement in place with TK to a few other destinations around IST (has it signed yet?). For comparison, SQ serve IST daily (via DXB) and TK also flies into SIN and BKK on almost daily basis. Just imagine how this route is going to survive? IST is my bet!

 

And of course, the world renowned KUL-JNB-CPT-EZE vv, not because of the load (which I believe is quite healthy) but because of the low frequency (2-3 weekly depending on the season) which reflecting a huge cost to be incurred by all the stations including crews layover against the revenues.

[Victor A. 2]

Just wondering, does the GM's of the various department in MH ever talk to each other when it comes to business planning/future expansion? and do they did any research on whatever plan they have before executing it? or are those GM's makan gaji buta (sorry for the harsh words, but that's how I feel at the moment)...

[Ryan Soh 3]

ADL perhaps ? I did recall reading from somewhere that ADL was potentially on of the destinations that may be canned. Loads were usually very good whenever I flew on MH 139/138, including GCCL.

 

CX flies into ADL daily but goes via MEL on the way back to HKG, SQ flies into ADL daily as well. Whilst MH does 4x weekly.

The ability for SQ and CX to sustain a daily service into ADL is the fact that a strong feed into their respective hubs of SIN and HKG is in place. MH is at present only able to eeke out a 4x a week service but these flights go out pretty full as well. On the plus side, the tickets on MH which goes via KUL to other destinations like SIN or BKK are actually more expensive than SQ. For instance, a dummy booking from ADL to SIN will show that MH is more expensive by AUD30.00 despite the further distance and a transit.

 

To me, having a 5th freedom right to operate CGK-MEL vv is a huge milestone for MH. MH is having a MONOPOLY on the route! What an opportunity to venture out on one of the most underserve route in the world - both Jakarta and Melbourne are thriving cities with many potential business and leisure travellers. Even SQ don't have any rights to operate direct from CGK to anywhere without having to transit via SIN.

What kind of yields do you expect out of CGK at 0400H in the morning? Most of the orang kaya in JKT are more than likely already your PPS and Krisflyer Gold who have a TON of frequency to choose from CGK-SIN before connecting onto the MEL flight departing at a sane hour of morning or evening. So does SQ really want to have operating rights out of JKT to elsewhere?

 

I hope MH won't make the same mistake with this new CGK-MEL route. MH should start to get the support from GA, by having the Indonesia's flag carrier to code share on the flights, and at the same time the government to push for a daily frequency right. This may also lead to the granting of many other routes out of CGK to Australia to MH (CGK-SYD, CGK-BNE etc), who knows. MH has to do this fast, before GA has the resources to operate the route on their own. GA as we all know only capable of carrying around 10 million passengers per year (both domestic and international) because of its limited resources despite operating from a country with 230 million population, which is fast developping (as a comparison, MH carried around 17-18 million passengers annually). What a huge blow if MH fails in this route too.

This really works against KUL's wish to be a HUB, don't you think? In order for this HUB in KLIA to take off, you need to concentrate on bringing your traffic INTO this airport of yours before flying them elsewhere (as seamless as possible) and thus the importance of the Kangaroo Route. As it is, MH already holds the monopoly from several European destinations into KUL which should, in essence, work to their advantage but this isn't happening (God only knows why. Takhdir, perhaps?). By routing your flights along the way via ANOTHER destination only brings to erode the attractiveness of flying MAS on a bigger scale so it is not just a matter of what can you gain out of flying from CGK to Australia. Can the passengers garnered more than compensate for the ones lost from Europe who by now do not wish to fly LHR-KUL-CGK-MEL? Might as well fly EK who are by a mile far cheaper LHR-DXB-SIN-MEL! And now you are suggesting that MH operate out of CGK to SYD and BNE as well? Seriously... KUL is properly positioned like HKG, SIN and BKK to operate a one stop option for the Kangaroo route without the need for ULH aircraft types, so why disturb this perfect formula?

 

Should there's other route that needed to be axed, I think the top on the list at present is IST. MH operate KUL-DXB-IST 2 weekly, and the DXB stopover was actually introduced recently (from the previous routing KUL-IST vv non stop) using a mix of A332/3. And mind you, MH don't have a 5th freedom right to carry passengers on the DXB-IST vv sector (unlike the DXB-BEY vv sector). The load is pretty much seasonal despite MH having a code share agreement in place with TK to a few other destinations around IST (has it signed yet?). For comparison, SQ serve IST daily (via DXB) and TK also flies into SIN and BKK on almost daily basis. Just imagine how this route is going to survive? IST is my bet!

 

And of course, the world renowned KUL-JNB-CPT-EZE vv, not because of the load (which I believe is quite healthy) but because of the low frequency (2-3 weekly depending on the season) which reflecting a huge cost to be incurred by all the stations including crews layover against the revenues.

Again... flying such distances only 2 - 3 times a week is really anyone's guess why these routes are still being kept. Anyone care to speculate on some answers?

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

What kind of yields do you expect out of CGK at 0400H in the morning? Most of the orang kaya in JKT are more than likely already your PPS and Krisflyer Gold who have a TON of frequency to choose from CGK-SIN before connecting onto the MEL flight departing at a sane hour of morning or evening. So does SQ really want to have operating rights out of JKT to elsewhere?

 

This really works against KUL's wish to be a HUB, don't you think? In order for this HUB in KLIA to take off, you need to concentrate on bringing your traffic INTO this airport of yours before flying them elsewhere (as seamless as possible) and thus the importance of the Kangaroo Route. As it is, MH already holds the monopoly from several European destinations into KUL which should, in essence, work to their advantage but this isn't happening (God only knows why. Takhdir, perhaps?). By routing your flights along the way via ANOTHER destination only brings to erode the attractiveness of flying MAS on a bigger scale so it is not just a matter of what can you gain out of flying from CGK to Australia. Can the passengers garnered more than compensate for the ones lost from Europe who by now do not wish to fly LHR-KUL-CGK-MEL? Might as well fly EK who are by a mile far cheaper LHR-DXB-SIN-MEL! And now you are suggesting that MH operate out of CGK to SYD and BNE as well? Seriously... KUL is properly positioned like HKG, SIN and BKK to operate a one stop option for the Kangaroo route without the need for ULH aircraft types, so why disturb this perfect formula?

Aduh Om Ryan kok ngomongnya kayak gitu sih? This condition is what I hope MH will pursue IF they treat the new CGK-MEL vv as a new standalone service, thus it is not entirely involved in the overall MH's Kangaroo Route network (which they don't unfortunately), as I mentioned in the first paragraph of the reply, see...

 

I agree with KK Lee that MH should treat this new KUL-CGK-MEL vv service as a new standalone service, without having to disturb the 2 daily KUL-MEL vv operations. I believe MH has an adequate B772 to allow this (if not news about B772s being parked and the possible selling of 9M-MRD - former Heliconia, won't be surfaced). Maybe it may be changed once the economy picks up.

 

And there's something not quite right with your mentioned timing of 0400H, because the schedule as mentioned earlier is as follows (all local time):

 

MH 147 KUL-CGK Dep 21:35 Arr 22:35

MH 147 CGK-MEL Dep 23:35 Arr 08:50 (+1 day)

 

MH 146 MEL-CGK Dep 00:01 Arr 04:00

MH 146 CGK-KUL Dep 05:00 Arr 08:00

 

Flight every Tue, Thu and Sat (ex KUL) and every Wed, Fri and Sun (ex MEL)

The only flight that leave very early in the morning is just the CGK-KUL sector, which departs at 05:00, 50 minutes earlier than the daily flight MH 726/727 that will be cancelled on the day flight MH 146 is in operation. I don't think that is such a big deal (that the flight leave 50 minutes earlier on 3 days out of 7 days in a week).

 

We all know that SQ is the biggest international airline operating out of CGK, the airline that even other airlines talk about on and on and on. This is why I just throw in/share some suggestions of what MH can do to at least get the best out of this new route, from my position as a casual observer and a frequent MH flyer. Agreed that most orang kaya will choose SQ over MH in a heartbeat but that is a false generalisation because I don't think all orang kaya in that 230 million population country prefer to fly SQ. Our very own ThaiA345 aka Herbert Kwee is an example. We can't be all negative about anything MH, can we?

[Cheng Long 0]

Mohd Azizul, you have pretty good suggestions to MAS.. I hope they will take heed of them.

 

Though departing at 5AM is an ungodly hour for some but they will arrive at 8AM.. I am sure that will be factored into consideration by potential customers.

 

Melbourne has a huge huge Indonesian population. If MAS can tap into this, they will be rewarded. MAS has to aggressively sell the route and make it work. Can't just sit and wait for customers.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Cheng Long

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

I just happened to know that GA is also planning to start CGK-MEL vv beginning 1 August 2009, so MH is not going to have a monopoly on the route. However, on the bright side, GA will fly the route every Wed, Fri and Sun while MH will fly the same route on Tue, Thu and Sat. So, there will be 6 non stop CGK-MEL vv flights per week and MH's schedule will complements Garuda's quite nicely, which suggested that the 2 carriers should code share with each other's flights even more now.

[Sing Yew 1]

I just happened to know that GA is also planning to start CGK-MEL vv beginning 1 August 2009, so MH is not going to have a monopoly on the route. However, on the bright side, GA will fly the route every Wed, Fri and Sun while MH will fly the same route on Tue, Thu and Sat. So, there will be 6 non stop CGK-MEL vv flights per week and MH's schedule will complements Garuda's quite nicely, which suggested that the 2 carriers should code share with each other's flights even more now.

 

GA will also have a friendlier arrival time into CGK as compared to MH's 0400 arrival time.

 

GA 716 CGK - MEL Dep 2215 Arr 0725

GA 717 MEL - CGK Dep 0955 Arr 1400

[Cheng Long 0]

MAS hasn't started yet and there goes the monopoly.. what a pity..

 

But another note, people still dare to fly with GA? I know caucasians not very keen but don't know about Indonesians though..

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

I think average Joe Indonesians would probably choose GA over other carriers, mainly because of the price (GA tend to be cheaper) and also patriotic reason. The orang kayas would definitely fly with other carriers, so this is where MH can try to lure some business from them with the 5 star FSVC mantra, world's best cabin crew etc. We'll left that matter to MH's Marketing Department, shall we?

 

I wonder whether GA are going to deploy their newly refurbished A332/3 for this CGK-MEL vv route or not?

Edited July 12, 2009 by Mohd Azizul Ramli

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

I agree with both of KK Lee & Azizul that this route should be treated as a standalone new route. There is a huge potential for this route with the 5th freedom rights MH has. I believe the same go for SYD-CGK. Currently I believe there is no direct non-stop flights from SYD or MEL to CGK. All the flights are with a stopover in DPS or PER.

 

However, with the participation of GA on MEL-CGK route, I wonder how long could the route last before Indonesian government withdraw MH's 5th freedom right.

[Ruiz Razy 1]

I think average Joe Indonesians would probably choose GA over other carriers, mainly because of the price (GA tend to be cheaper) and also patriotic reason. The orang kayas would definitely fly with other carriers, so this is where MH can try to lure some business from them with the 5 star FSVC mantra, world's best cabin crew etc. We'll left that matter to MH's Marketing Department, shall we?

 

I wonder whether GA are going to deploy their newly refurbished A332/3 for this CGK-MEL vv route or not?

 

Those Orang kaya's may likely stick to GA if the refurbished A332 /3 being deployed on this sector. Unless that 5star airline could counter offer with more superior products and reintroduce the superb inflight catering as we used to have years ago.

 

The only think that one really looks forward on that carrier is the satay; and that is only for the selected few infront. Even the amenity kits infront today are not as impressive as those day, the brand is there, but the basic things are either compromised or no longer available, one fine example is the toothbrush given is so cheap and can easily get spoilt , u can't even used once!; combs are flimsy and shavers are no longer available.

 

Economy now is so "compromised" that even that beloved Skytrax rated that 5 star airline as 4 star in economy; but even so, I think it is overated as other economy 4 stars like BA and EK are much better. Not to mentioned that we don't even know what is being served inflight and what are the beverages are available as they think that we need not have to know what are the options available until the very last minute.

 

Frankly, what I really need is that 5 star airline deliver the 5 star service and products.

[Cheng Long 0]

Come to think of my Indonesian friends.. Most actually don't have any high regard for MH or Malaysia in general.. That's probably because we Malaysians like to say lousy things about ourselves. They believe we are lousy because we said so..

 

If my little group of Indonesian friends is representative of Indonesians in general, MH does not have the "superiority" factor, unlike other airlines like SQ..

 

And with GA also flying the route, Indonesians can get pretty nationalistic sometimes..

 

So those marketing people in MH have an uphill task making the route work. Better cooperate with GA to have better chances of success.

[Ryan Soh 3]

Some of you argue that this sector should be seen as a standalone route to be able to "see the light". But think about it, which Asia - OZ sector doesn't depend on connecting traffic from their respective hubs? Whether the flights connect or not (of course ideally they should), the majority of the traffic is connecting nevertheless. And thus, the airline has more options and avenues to get their passengers.

 

Now this supposedly "standalone" service we are looking at now doesn't look that attractive because after getting off a long haul flight in KUL, you would have to go via CGK to continue your journey. Would I want to do that? Would MAS be cheaper then Emirates in this regard? I hardly think so. So you would have lost some passengers there.

 

Now, if we can console ourselves that "Hey, it is ok, those passengers we lost in KUL can be compensated by the ones we pick up from Jakarta..." then it is fine. But think about it, now MAS is ONLY limited to the capture market of Jakarta. A little dicy, don't you think? Now they offer a nonstop flight at some odd hours only 3 times a week, whereas SQ offers MULTIPLE daily albeit via a short flight. Let's for a moment look away from the orang kaya (PPS, KF Gold etc) and look at the others. Travel agents LOVE to push SQ because they know it sells. Otherwise go GA. These two airlines offer DAILY flights.

 

Who knows this might work? Perhaps MAS is ahead of their time charting new markets no one has ever tried before? Maybe they just might be the innovators we never knew they wwere? But in my opinion MAS is better off sticking to what they do best, routing traffic through KUL and concentrate on making it into a hub.

[Raj 0]

Now this supposedly "standalone" service we are looking at now doesn't look that attractive because after getting off a long haul flight in KUL, you would have to go via CGK to continue your journey.

 

Well u don't exactly have to opt for this particular flight going via CGK do you? If ur rather interested in direct flight, there's always the other mh flight that u could catch.

 

Now, if we can console ourselves that "Hey, it is ok, those passengers we lost in KUL can be compensated by the ones we pick up from Jakarta..." then it is fine. But think about it, now MAS is ONLY limited to the capture market of Jakarta. A little dicy, don't you think? Now they offer a nonstop flight at some odd hours only 3 times a week, whereas SQ offers MULTIPLE daily albeit via a short flight. Let's for a moment look away from the orang kaya (PPS, KF Gold etc) and look at the others.

 

Not dicy et all bro. If u were to take SQ, lets put it this way. 2 hours check in before taking sq flight to singapore, under 2 hours for the CGK-SIN flight, n depending on when the next flight to mel is, we put it as under 2 hours or so. Totalling it to 6 or so hours. Now if one were to have taken the MH flight, they wud be at or past the half way point to melbourne.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Some of you argue that this sector should be seen as a standalone route to be able to "see the light". But think about it, which Asia - OZ sector doesn't depend on connecting traffic from their respective hubs? Whether the flights connect or not (of course ideally they should), the majority of the traffic is connecting nevertheless. And thus, the airline has more options and avenues to get their passengers.

 

Who knows this might work? Perhaps MAS is ahead of their time charting new markets no one has ever tried before? Maybe they just might be the innovators we never knew they wwere? But in my opinion MAS is better off sticking to what they do best, routing traffic through KUL and concentrate on making it into a hub.

I believe the folks at MH are aware about their ever declining passengers' traffic. They are now facing some competition from D7 on the KUL-MEL vv sector on the local front, and of course the Middle Eastern carriers (EK, EY, QR) on the Kangaroo Route international front, all of which offer non stop connections into MEL via their respective hubs (DXB, AUH, DOH) bypassing South East Asia. As you mentioned, perhaps this slight excursion via CGK is the option and avenue that MH can think of at the moment to sustain their limping market share. MEL is after all, MH's largest market in Australia (358,080 passengers movement in 2008). So I believe they are worried and trying hard to get it right (whether this CGK-MEL vv flight is the right thing to do I guess only time will tell).

 

I have been waiting anticipatedly for them to reply in your thread about the same subject, in their dedicated subforum actually.

[Seth K 3]

You guyz think too much, MH people prolly thought about all this crap. What happen if they could fill the plane 100% from CGK to MEL. Isn't that good. It's a gamble. Too much negativity.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Seth K

[KK Lee 5]

You guyz think too much, MH people prolly thought about all this crap. What happen if they could fill the plane 100% from CGK to MEL. Isn't that good. It's a gamble. Too much negativity.

 

Any airline can fill the plane 100% by offering free or cheap fare but whether worth it or not business wise?

 

Although there are a number of proven business models for airlines (e.g. alliance, LCC, hub and spokes), MH seem to like to defy gravity (refused to join any alliance ), reinvent the wheel (triangular route KUL/SYD/BNE/KUL ) or pick and mix from different business models (e.g. 5 star service at 1 star price ). Historically, MH’s creation hasn’t been fare well, may be they were ahead of their time or haven’t try enough numbers

 

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

I hope no one posted this news yet...hope it helps...

 

Maskargo sees turnaround in 2010

Published: 2009/07/14

 

MALAYSIA Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd (Maskargo) sees a turnaround of its cargo volume in the second half of 2010 in line with the recovery of global economic conditions.

 

Its general manager of business development and sales (cargo), Mohd Yunus Idris, said the company saw a 28 per cent contraction in cargo volume in the first half year of 2009 against the same period last year.

 

Demand from its main market, China, fell by more than 30 per cent, he said.

 

"We see a light at the end of the tunnel. We see some flattening at the bottom. There is not really a jump yet but we''ve seen the bottom flattened," he told a group of reporters at the Bintulu Airport in Bintulu today.

 

Maskargo, the air cargo division of Malaysian Airlines, was now looking into aggressively marketing its charter services, Mohd Yunus said.

 

He said the company was currently receiving at least 12 enquiries per day globally.

 

"They (the enquiries) come as far as Rio De Janeiro and Buenos Aires but we don't fly there," Mohd Yunus said.

 

"The one we are working very hard on is originating from Australia and we also have enquiries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. And then we have enquiries from Bintulu. That's why we are focusing on Bintulu," he said.

On another development, Mohd Yunus said that Maskargo had secured a fifth freedom flight to Indonesia.

 

"What actually happened is that we are allowed to uplift cargo from Australia and discharge them in Jakarta and at the same time, we uplift cargo from Jakarta. This goes together with the passengers," he said.

 

Maskargo today successfully transported two out of six motor ball valves weighing 22 tonnes each from Frankfurt, Germany, to Bintulu.

 

The two motor ball valves were flown from Frankfurt directly into Bintulu using a B747-400 freighter aircraft.

 

The remaining four valves will be flown using Maskargo's B747-400F aircraft on August 4 and 11 subsequently.

 

The motor ball valves were developed by Franz Schuck GmbH Ltd and are mainly used in pipeline stations and offshore platforms as shut-off devices for gas, oil, water and other products.

 

The motor ball valves were transported by trucks by Air Marine Cargo Agency Sdn Bhd to the Petronas oil and gas processing factory in Bintulu.

 

Maskargo operates four B747-200F, two B747-400F and one A300-600F aircraft, covering the world''s major cargo hubs.

 

It also offers belly space capacity on Malaysia Airlines passenger fleet, serving almost 100 destinations worldwide. - Bernama

taken from skyscrappercity...

 

COuld this be the reason why they stop in CGK enroute to downunder??

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

MHost replied Ryan Soh's query about the subject in the MH Subforum.

 

Hi Ryan, we are preparing for the ASEAN open skies in 2012. There are 2 stages to the open skies. The first stage started in December 2008 with the open skies between capital cities in ASEAN. In 2012, secondary cities are expected to be opened to ASEAN carriers.

 

In line with this, we have started Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Paris flights effective 1 July 2009. Out of the 47 flights per week out of Singapore, we are offering 41 flights on B737 and 6 flights on B777. The twice daily B777 flights, SIN-KUL-CDG are available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

Effective 15 September 2009, we will commence flights from Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta-Melbourne. Out of the 14 weekly flights on B777, 3 flights per week will be offered for Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta-Melbourne, and the flights will be available on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We will continue to offer direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. Apologies I will not be able to provide the responses to your other questions as those are competitive information.

 

Dr Amin Khan

Senior General Manager

Network & Revenue Management

Thank you to MH for the response. Now I know that there is also another flight, which fall into the same category, SIN-KUL-CDG vv (which I think can be differentiated by all the B772 that goes into SIN).

 

But I think this 3 weekly SIN-KUL-CDG vv flight is part of MH's present 5 weekly flight into CDG, so there is no increase in capacity and frequency (?). Tough battle on this route as well, since SQ deploy their A380 daily and I think AF is also sending their B77W on a daily basis on the SIN-CDG market. I wonder what/who is MH's target market for this route? Tour groups perhaps?

Edited July 14, 2009 by Mohd Azizul Ramli

[KK Lee 5]

Wonder what SQ is planning for 5th freedom rights from CGK and KUL or stick to hub and spokes?

 

Does it mean MH may route SYD via CGK?

 

[Isaac 0]

But I think this 3 weekly SIN-KUL-CDG vv flight is part of MH's present 5 weekly flight into CDG, so there is no increase in capacity and frequency (?). Tough battle on this route as well, since SQ deploy their A380 daily and I think AF is also sending their B77W on a daily basis on the SIN-CDG market.

And it's been confirmed that the AF daily 77W will soon be replaced by 380, also on a daily basis.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Competition into MEL further heats up when SQ decided to deploy their A380s beginning 29 September 2009

 

Come 29 September 2009, customers travelling between Singapore and Melbourne will get to enjoy an unrivalled inflight experience as Singapore Airlines operates the Airbus A380, the largest passenger aircraft in the world, to the city.

 

Melbourne will be the second city in Australia and sixth city in the Airline’s network to receive the A380. Sydney was the first to receive the superjumbo when Singapore Airlines began operating the A380 in October 2007. The Airline subsequently added London, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong to its list of A380 destinations.

 

“We are excited to fly the A380 to Melbourne, the second most populous city in Australia and a vibrant centre for commerce, arts, industry, sports and tourism. As the greenest widebody aircraft in the sky, the 471-seat A380 will increase the seat capacity to Melbourne by 10%, without the need for additional frequencies,” said Mr. Huang Cheng Eng, Executive Vice President, Marketing and the Regions.

 

The daily A380 flights will replace an existing daily Boeing 747-400 service to Melbourne. SQ227 will depart Singapore Changi Airport at 2100hrs and arrive in Melbourne at 0610hrs (0710hrs from 4 October 2009 due to daylight savings) the next day. On the return leg, SQ228 will depart Melbourne at 1550hrs (1650hrs from 4 October 2009) and touch down in Singapore at 2140hrs.

[Izanee 0]

SIN has truly emerged as an A380 hub...SQ, AF, QF ...i am sure EK will soon follow. KUL and MH are lost on the wayside.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Just some updates from MH Rumour Department with regards to changes on certain (money losing) routes:

 

MH 738/739 KUL-BWN-BKI vv 3 weekly will be replaced by MH 730/731 KUL-BWN vv. There will be no more BWN-BKI vv flight.

 

MH 852/853 PEN-SIN vv daily will be reduced to 3 weekly.

 

MH 674/677 SIN-LGK vv 3 weekly will be replaced by MH 674/677 SIN-PEN-LGK vv 4 weekly. There will be no more SIN-LGK vv flight.

 

MH 630/631 BKI-SIN vv 3 weekly will be terminated.

 

 

But as always, for business sustainability, all these cuts and terminations are needed by MH to stay profitable. It is interesting to note that for the PEN-SIN sector, MH gone from daily to 3 weekly while AK will be going DOUBLE DAILY after just operating the route for a couple of months.

[Isaac 0]

MH 630/631 BKI-SIN vv 3 weekly will be terminated.

Hopefully MI won't leave us just yet. MAS so-called deeply discounted ticket is around RM1200/pax compared to MI's RM473/pax. No wonder they are make huge losses on this route. I personally have been on MH631 (to SIN) and MH630 (back to BKI) three times in year 2000 and 2002 and there were no more than 30 people on each flight.