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Eddy Liew

Malindo to be Rebranded as Batik Air Malaysia; Moved to MTB; to Partner ex MAS Codeshare Airlines

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Malindo may code-share with ex-MAS partners; May move to KLIA

 

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAS) former code-share partners are now courting Malindo Air for interlining into domestic and regional connections.

Nearly a dozen carriers will have to find new partnerships and, thus far, seven have approached Malindo, those in the know claim.

They said among the seven talking to Malindo included KLM-Air France, Etihad Airways, Vietnam Airways, Qatar Airways and Air Mauritius. Several other carriers may be looking for similar tie-ups.

“These carriers are full service airlines and prefer to work with similar types and Malindo has elements of full service,’’ an aviation executive said.

MAS can’t keep these partnerships with the global carriers as it now has Emirates as its new partner. The Emirates-MAS partnership inked last month is an exclusive agreement that restricts MAS from having similar arrangements with other carriers in several markets.Emirates has one of the largest global network and the deal gives MAS access beyond Asia.

While this arrangement with Emirates has given MAS a new platform to connect its passengers to the world, it has also opened new avenues for local players such as AirAsia and Malindo to tap passengers flown in by other carriers that want connectivity within Malaysia and regionally.

“Interlining and regional connectivity is important and if they cannot find a local partner for that, they may even move to Singapore or Bangkok for regional connectivity,’’ he said.

As the talks are still progressing pending final decisions, Malindo now wants to explore a relocation from KLIA2 to KLIA to facilitate the interlining.

Malindo in a statement confirmed that it was in talks with airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd for the relocation.

Malindo cited reasons for the relocation was due to the engagement with foreign carriers operating out of KLIA for interlining and code share which requires operation in the same terminal so that there is seamless connectivity and convenience for the transit passengers.

It added that several of its passengers, especially business travellers also want the relocation so that they can use the premium services provided at KLIA.

Malindo offers business class services on its B737 next generation fleet. The airline that started three years ago was on expansion mode and would take delivery of 5-6 new aircraft this year, its CEO Chandran Rama Muthy said. It now flies to 12 countries over 22 destinations and will add Ho Chi Minh city and Hong Kong to its route map on Jan 29 and Feb 5 respectively.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/01/14/malindo-may-codeshare-with-exmas-partners/

Edited by Eddy Liew

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Frankly, I don't know why Malindo moved to klia2.

 

It looks like they have stumbled on the code sharing windfall because no one expected MAB and Emirates to come up with this code sharing agreement. So Malindo may now have to review their business model again!

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read it somewhere that they're planning to be full service carrier instead of hybrid airline as their business model.. With this latest news and if it materialize looks like OD will benefit the most with the shrinking of MH and not AK/D7 as predicted earlier... Now, go get youself some 787 please OD.. :D

Edited by nrazmoor

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Now, go get youself some 787 please OD.. :D

Their aircraft has so far come from the JT order book - so A330s are more likely, if they need widebodies.

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Malindo may code-share with ex-MAS partners; May move to KLIA

 

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAS) former code-share partners are now courting Malindo Air for interlining into domestic and regional connections.

Nearly a dozen carriers will have to find new partnerships and, thus far, seven have approached Malindo, those in the know claim.

They said among the seven talking to Malindo included KLM-Air France, Etihad Airways, Vietnam Airways, Qatar Airways and Air Mauritius. Several other carriers may be looking for similar tie-ups.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/01/14/malindo-may-codeshare-with-exmas-partners/

 

OD is the perfect partner for them to compete with EK/MH on MYS domestic and regional.

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OD is the perfect partner for them to compete with EK/MH on MYS domestic and regional.

 

But OD frequency to East Malaysian cities are like.. sucks. They got to increase more frequencies though and plied to more cities. So it's another bleed to MH for losing all these partners by engaging with EK?

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Moving back to MTB, i have a mixed feeling about this. I'm enjoying the new concept of having shopping mall inside a terminal. There are so many shops and Jaya Grocer has been my favourite after work shoping for necessitities. KLIA2 is good except for long walk and stupid immigration counters.

 

MTB got none and its rotting unless they started doing something about it

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JT's A330-300 will kill OD itself with 440 seats. I don't think Malaysians are too fond of such cramped seating. It may work for Indonesia and the Philippines, definitely not Malaysia.

 

For Asian route, they need to reconfigure it to mix J, economy plus and economy bundled with full carrier service then OD will be a true MH competitor. They already have free baggage allowance, free and decent IFE and FFP.

 

There are many second hand A330 in the market now, so OD/ JT can take in some more to mount more flight to other destinations cancelled by Malaysia Airlines.

 

I would say Eva Air A332 and SQ A333 are good options that Lion Group can look at.

Edited by JuliusWong

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Arrived from SIN on the late night Malindo flight and we used gate Q17. So far to walk, immigration is busy with overweight staff standing around looking at queues and the baggage reclaim is very slow in a stuffy hot hall with poor air con. The upper level taxi counters close at 11 and the downstairs queue was long with only 1 window taking credit cards. Yes the fast food/cafe outlets etc are ok but the airport is a shambles and I would welcome the move back to KLIA1

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Arrived from SIN on the late night Malindo flight and we used gate Q17. So far to walk, immigration is busy with overweight staff standing around looking at queues and the baggage reclaim is very slow in a stuffy hot hall with poor air con. The upper level taxi counters close at 11 and the downstairs queue was long with only 1 window taking credit cards. Yes the fast food/cafe outlets etc are ok but the airport is a shambles and I would welcome the move back to KLIA1

Sadly, this is Malaysia........first class facilities, third world service support.......Sorry to hear your predicament.

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I'm wondering if MH proceed with their plan to centralize their ops at MTB is there any space left for OD? Or will OD occupy Sats building?

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If MH move to MTB, means all these code-share partners will be at Satellite, no? Guessing Malindo will also be based there.

 

The main reason for the move is to ease interlining.

 

Anyway, how long till we can expect Malindo widebodies at KUL?

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Anyway, how long till we can expect Malindo widebodies at KUL?

Malindo has yet to fully utilise their B737-900ERs - so I don't think it will be in 2016.

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I don't think it can be this year or next year to be honest, didn't OD had some rough time with DCA Malaysia recently over operational issues??

 

If they can get the house together, late 2017 can be a possibility. Also OD needs massive marketing budget like those of AK Group. They don't enjoy brand recognition in the region beyond Malaysia shore...Also European Aviation Safety Agency may also look into OD books and SOP in detail, before they can mount any flight to their territory.

 

A lot of paper works and effort OD needs to put in.....But I hope for the best for them! Always good to have options! :)

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Build up domestic network first before talking about interlining and code sharing please OD! Not going abroad so much first...and testing here and there...

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Build up domestic network first before talking about interlining and code sharing please OD! Not going abroad so much first...and testing here and there...

I believe the market share for domestics especially flights to East Msia are already saturated by multiple frequencies by AK and MH. Loads to secondary routes have not fared well except for holiday seasons. OD tried (MYY,SBW,TWU)and it did not fared well.. Services to BKI KCH has frequency reduction to just 3 daily now even with heavy marketing, billboards etc. Unless MH/AK are to reduced the frequency on the routes then it should not be a problem for OD to ply.

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I'm wondering if MH proceed with their plan to centralize their ops at MTB is there any space left for OD? Or will OD occupy Sats building?

Heh, at rate MH is slashing routes and frequencies, should be no capacity issues at MTB at all

Heck, maybe the new spouse (EK) can also move in at MTB too !

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Difficult for spouse to move in to MTB because spouse is XXXL in size (read: MTB can't handle A380 unless A380-capable gates are planned in the MTB extension).

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Don't forget MH is disposing 20 B737NG soon, so MTB should not have any space issue.

Don't forget that A333 will need 2 aerobridges per gate if MH want to consolidate their ops at MTB.

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Build up domestic network first before talking about interlining and code sharing please OD! Not going abroad so much first...and testing here and there...

 

Err why must one come before the other? Can easily do both hand in hand. Codeshares and interline agreements add traffic.

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