What do you think of Datuk Khan's statement?

[Izanee 0]

It will be interesting to see a show of hands - how many people think MAS can be salvaged.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Izanee

[Jessnor Arif 1]

What statement?

[Irni Mastura 0]

Pardon me if I'm wrong... not sure, is this the statement you're referring to, Izanee?

 

Taken from http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/getdoc/c00...b386/Media.aspx

 

21 Jan, 2008

MASWINGS OFFERS INCREASED FREQUENCIES AND IMPROVED CONNECTIVITY

 

Revised schedules and more capacity effective 21 January 2008

Malaysia Airlines wholly owned subsidiary, MASwings, will offer increased frequencies and improved connectivity when the 7th Fokker F50 aircraft joins its fleet on 21st January 2008.

 

Together with the latest Fokker F50 and 5 Twin otter in its fleet, MASwings will offer a total of 85 additional weekly flights within East Malaysia, living up to its tagline “Connecting the world to Sabah and Sarawak”.

 

Updating the media today on the progress of MASwings, its Managing Director Dr Amin Khan said, “Our growth has been phenomenal since we took to the skies on 1 October 2007. We started with a fleet of 4 Fokker 50 and 4 Twin Otter, providing not only a revitalized air network within East Malaysia but also connectivity with our parent company, Malaysia Airlines. Our on-time performance since we started has improved from 83.9% in October last year to a record high of 93.7% this month, exceeding our benchmark of 86%.”

 

“Effective 21st January 2008, we will have 7 Fokker F50 and 5 Twin Otter aircraft and this increased fleet strength allows us to mount an additional 42 weekly frequencies within Sarawak, 11 services a week within Sabah and another 32 weekly flights between the two states.”

“Whilst planning our revised weekly schedule to incorporate these 85 additional flights, we also reviewed our overall flight timings to ensure that we not only provide inter and intra state connectivity in Sarawak and Sabah, but also have improved connectivity with both the domestic and international services of Malaysia Airlines operating from both the states,” he added.

 

Among the significant improvements in MASwings network are increased weekly Fokker 50 frequencies on the Kuching-Sibu vv route from 7 to 14 flights and similar increase on the Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan vv and Sandakan - Tawau vv. The Kota Kinabalu-Sibu vv routes are also increased from 7 to 14 times a week. The current weekly frequency of 10 flights on the Kota Kinbalu-Miri vv route will be increased to 21.

 

“Although we were focused on meeting the air travel needs of Sabah and Sarawak, we also were mindful of the need to provide more distribution channels and affordable fares for our customers. Within 2 ½ months of commencing operations, we launched our online booking engine on 15 December 2007 and within a month, we now register a penetration of 10% of the total bookings on us through this online channel,” said Dr Amin.

 

The MASwings online booking engine www.maswings.com.my offers fares that are 15-35% lower than those offered through the traditional distribution channels and does not attract service fees. Apart from these competitive offers for travel on MASwings, this booking engine also allows reservations on Malaysia Airlines flights, which enables passengers to book their air travel on MASwings and Malaysia Airlines through a single online distribution channel.

 

Dr Amin also said, “Whilst placing emphasis on operational excellence and exemplary service delivery to our customers, we did not forget the needy and our commitment to promote the two East Malaysian states through special packages in co-operation with the state tourism authorities”.

 

“On the 1st day of our operations, we launched Wings for Children, a special programme dedicated to needy children below 12 years of age with life threatening and/or chronic illnesses, by providing them free air transportation between the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak and the urban centres in the two states to receive prompt medical attention”.

 

“Wings of Borneo is our marketing strategy to promote the rich world renowned heritages of Sabah and Sarawak to the world. This is our contribution in partnership with the tourism offices of both states to attract more international arrivals into East Malaysia,” he added.

 

As a dynamic air carrier, dedicated to providing excellent air services in East Malaysia, MASwings, through its parent company Malaysia Airlines has signed an MoU for 10 ATR72-500.

 

This fleet renewal is undertaken in response to the Malaysian Government's request to enable MASWings to expand its services in Sabah and Sarawak. MASWings is expected to receive delivery of the first 5 aircraft in 2009 and another 5 by 2010. These new aircraft will enable MASWings to expand its capacity by 150%, meet the future demand in air travel within Sabah and Sarawak, and connect more customers worldwide to the two states which are ideal destinations for business and vacations

 

Issued by: MASwings, Sarawak

Edited January 21, 2008 by Irni Mastura

[Rozhan 0]

Option 1, I don't think it is easy for him to pack and leave. Clinging to such a job is a matter of 'living the good life'. Unless the No.1 at Putrajaya decides he should go at once.

 

Option 2, no hope. Even the airline has become hopeless.

 

Option 3, YES! I'm flying other airlines now and I'm lovin' it

[Izanee 0]

sorry guys...i meant his statement in the NST today in reply to my letter.

[BC Tam 2]

Here you go, this should be the originating reference, gleaned from NSTonline (and complete with integral irritations )

 

 

NST Online » Letters

2008/01/21

 

MAS STRATEGY: Customers number one priority

By : DATUK RASHID KHAN Commercial director Malaysia Airlines

 

 

WE refer to the article on Malaysia Airlines by Dr Muhammad Izanee Mohamed Mydin, of Kingston-upon-Hull ("Revise strategy or lose out" -- NST, Jan 14).

 

The business turnaround plan (BTP) of Malaysia Airlines, launched in 2006, clearly articulates the sequence of the objective from financial survival to profitability and then to profitable growth in the final year.

 

We have come a long way from our loss of RM1.3 billion in 2006 to a record profit of RM610 million in 2007 (January-September only).

 

As we enter the final stretch of the BTP, we have exceeded the original targets of the plan by selectively expanding our network, offering newer, better and more frequent connections to our passengers.

 

Despite the rationalisation in 2006, we remain a dominant force in the domestic market, having moved ahead to build our network.

 

Ever since we took back the domestic operations, this segment of our business has been profitable and we have, in fact, increased frequencies to Miri, Sibu and Tawau as well as maintained our services to other cities in Malaysia.

 

We have been aggressively expanding through Firefly from Penang and Subang as well as through MASwings in Sabah and Sarawak.

 

In less than three months of operation, Firefly now offers from Subang, thrice daily flights to Penang, twice daily flights to Langkawi, a daily flight to Kuala Terengganu and Kota Baru with more destinations in the pipeline.

 

In the Asean region, we have increased our frequencies to Bangkok and Jakarta from three to five times daily.

 

In addition, we provide a double daily service to Phuket, progressively adding services to Singapore and Ho Chi Minh as well as increasing capacity on the Manila route.

 

We constantly monitor all our routes and redeploy our aircraft to destinations with stronger passenger demand.

 

For example, due to weaker demand, we reduced our weekly frequencies to Surabaya but in turn, redeployed aircraft to Yogyakarta.

 

The decision to increase or decrease flights on a specific route is primarily driven by the economics of operating that service.

 

We have adopted a hub-and-spoke strategy for our European operations. Together with our code-share partners -- KLM, Alitalia and BMI -- we offer our passengers more than 50 connections across Europe from our hubs in Amsterdam, Rome and London.

 

During this BTP phase, we have implemented many initiatives to turn around unprofitable routes. As a result, many routes are now profitable and we have increased frequencies to some European destinations such as Paris and Rome. However, once we have exhausted all options, we will suspend operations on unprofitable routes such as Kuala Lumpur-Zurich.

 

Our London route is profitable and we operate double daily B747 flights. By mid- 2008, two additional weekly frequencies will be mounted.

 

Dr Izanee is right in pointing out that carriers are scrambling for "valuable" slots. However, these slots are only "valuable" during the peak morning and evening periods, and Malaysia Airlines possesses slots for both these periods.

 

Slots during non-peak periods in London are not difficult to obtain but are not aligned to our customer requirements.

 

Our network also grew in the Australia and New Zealand markets as well as in the Indian sub-continent region.

 

Last year, we launched additional weekly flights to Perth and Auckland during peak periods to meet increased demand. Likewise, we also increased weekly frequencies to New Delhi and Chennai.

 

While we recognise that Emirates offers a strong schedule between Europe and the Middle East to Asean, Australia and New Zealand, we will continue to optimise our schedule and pricing to ensure that we match effectively with not only Emirates but other carriers as well.

 

Dr Izanee rightly pointed out that business passengers value good connectivity and frequency. As outlined above, we have been adding frequencies as well as establishing code-sharing agreements and partnerships for destinations that we cannot serve alone.

 

Beyond an improved schedule, we have improved our product by retrofitting both our first and business class cabins with new seats.

 

Ultimately, we are guided by what our customers want and not by what our competitors pursue. Continuous building of customer loyalty is critical as it ensures that our current profitable growth strategy is sustainable. Our customers are our number one priority.

 

At the end of this month, we will announce our Business Transformation Plan which will provide more clarity on our five-year strategy and we will make this document available in the public domain.

Edited January 21, 2008 by BC Tam

[V Wong 0]

can i choose options 1 and 3?

[Alan B. 5]

can i choose options 1 and 3?

 

too many choices. Couldn't decided between ! or 2. Finally picked 3, as I think the reply was most likely the work of a PR "expert" so i shall not blame the the messenger.

[Keno Omar 0]

Just to recap what Izanee wrote to MAS:

 

"MAS is losing its market share. AK is now dominating the domestic market and I am sure the regional market as well. Instead of increasing flights to potentially profitable destinations, MAS is reducing services."

Datuk K: MAS is still #1 for domestic operation. No mention about their ever-decreasing market share.

 

"MAS used to be second placed foreign behind Singapore Airlines in terms of flights to Australia/NZ and market share. Emirates has now overtaken it and soon Thai Airways will leapfrog MAS."

Datuk K: At least he admitted that EK has a much better connectivity.

 

"It has operated a measly 3 flights a week since the start of the route 19 years ago. They cannot claim that they tried to make the route work. Since MAS announced that its Zurich flights are to be stopped, Singapore Airlines has increased flights to ten times weekly to fill the void left by MAS."

Datuk K: No mention on why they failed to make ZRH work. At least give us something coz we don't really buy that MAS've tried everything they could. I would be glad to be proven wrong.

 

"Another example is Dubai where MAS flies 7 times weekly either via Karachi or as a stop over to Istanbul and Beirut. Emirates now plans to fly to KL nine times weekly without the onward connections to Singapore or Jakarta. They seem to make it work."

Datuk K: Obviously no mention on EK's far superior product on KUL-DXB route versus MAS's crappy offerings as part of the attraction for customers.

 

"MAS idea of serving destinations with 3-4 weekly services will only make it attractive to package or leisure passengers because of this reason. In fact, MAS has said that it would just be a 'leisure' airline rather than compete against other major carriers."

Datuk K: No comment. Wait for BTP report.

 

"MAS will probably say that they cannot increase flights as they do not have enough aircraft. Why? Their other strategy of making profits by selling assets (which include aircraft - 4 Boeing 747 aircrafts so far) will not work in the long term when they have nothing more to sell apart from their managers."

Datuk K: No comment. Wait for BTP report.

 

"I also think their idea of Five star @ low cost is alienating its loyal passengers including myself. They cite high oil prices as the reason for increasing fares but there is only so much we can put up with. The quality of their inflight meals leave a lot to be desired."

Datuk K: No comment. Wait for BTP report.

 

"Their 'Year of Growth' in 2008 has been marked by some rather dubious decisions. They plan to fly to Yogyakarta and Lahore."

Datuk K: No comment on Lahore. Yogya was launched to absorb some excess capacity from Surabaya, doesn't sound like a long-term strategy to me (recall Padang).

 

All these rantings about "new" hub-and-spoke strategy in Europe is nothing more than a PR statement. KLM & BMI codeshare cities have been stagnant for years (except for some minor addition like Bergen & Aberdeen) while 3x weekly to FCO can hardly be considered hub to attract business passengers from the target cities. Unless MAS expand their codeshare with KLM further to offer multiple connections to key cities in Germany, France, Switzerland and even North America, please don't even talk about this so-called hub-and-spoke strategy.

 

[Izanee 0]

exactly Keno....he didn't respond to most of the questions.

 

just repeated the same old crap that MH has been spewing lately.

 

Hub and spoke my ass

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Edited: Facts' misunderstanding.

Edited January 23, 2008 by Mohd Azizul Ramli

[Kenneth T 0]

Either he is speechless since MAS are helpless to offer any better product than others or he is still unclear with the BTP then which is unlikely in this case.