Jump to content
MalaysianWings - Malaysia's Premier Aviation Portal
Sign in to follow this  
Isaac

Cathay Pacific Quits Kuala Lumpur; Cathay Dragon (Dragonair) to Take Over from March 2017

Recommended Posts

Bloody hell. KUL is being whacked left right and centre. We don't even get Philippine airlines, Air India, jetstar, Asiana and Qantas... I think KUL is pretty underrated. Looks like Malaysia has taken huge beatings following MH's twin disasters in 2014 and now the 1MDB scandal. Other neighbouring countries are benefiting from this and really driving the screw in for Malaysia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bloody hell. KUL is being whacked left right and centre. We don't even get Philippine airlines, Air India, jetstar, Asiana and Qantas... I think KUL is pretty underrated. Looks like Malaysia has taken huge beatings following MH's twin disasters in 2014 and now the 1MDB scandal. Other neighbouring countries are benefiting from this and really driving the screw in for Malaysia

Don't you think the strong ME3 presence in KUL is also a big turnoff?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is a rather weird decision.

 

As at end of 2015, CX is the 7th largest airline in KUL with 1.4% market share of the total KUL's 49 million passengers. I do wonder why they would want to give that up.

 

Even SQ is still maintaining their presence in KUL despite MI taking over most of its previous slots.

 

I don't think the ME3 is contributing to this. CX's market from Malaysia is mainly for trans Pacific, which is away from the main ME3 areas (although some passengers did take the long westbound route from Malaysia to cross the Atlantic with ME3).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't you think the strong ME3 presence in KUL is also a big turnoff?

 

not to mention the strong regional presence of AirAsia for cost sensitive travellers and even some business travellers in companies on cost cutting drives...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Doesn't CX have a different route market compared to the ME3? Quite disappointing to see CX leave KUL and Dragon take over.

 

I would think Cathay did not rebrand Dragon as Cathay Dragon for nothing....and Cathay Dragon is definitely not low cost by any means...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Inferior hard product- the cirrus J seat is nominally sold as "First" and the regional PEY J seat is sold as "business"

 

Bye bye ! That's me and about 12-15 other monthly J fares that may end up elsewhere now :)

 

Nice move CX :)


I don't think KUL-HKG is low yield. Weird decision.

Are the two products different?

 

yes

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

WTF? Is KUL really that unimportant?

 

This will be a huge turn off. We get at least 1 or 2 flights a day with the long-haul configuration, which we will not get with Dragon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Inferior hard product- the cirrus J seat is nominally sold as "First" and the regional PEY J seat is sold as "business"

 

Bye bye ! That's me and about 12-15 other monthly J fares that may end up elsewhere now :)

 

Nice move CX :)

 

 

yes

If they keep on selling an inferior hard product after the switch for the same price then nice move indeed for CX hahaha :)

 

But on a serious note, they have no direct competition for non stop flight now.. MH 738 is probably a less desirable option anyway

Edited by Najib Ramli

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

CX Media Release:

 

 

Dragonair to operate flights to Kuala Lumpur from March 2017

11 Aug 2016
Dragonair today announced that it will operate four daily flights between Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur commencing early next year, further strengthening the airline’s regional network.
The new flights will be introduced progressively between March and May 2017. Kuala Lumpur will become Dragonair’s third destination in Malaysia – the airline already operates 11 weekly flights to Penang and five weekly flights to Kota Kinabalu. Together with Kuala Lumpur, Dragonair will be operating 44 weekly flights to Malaysia.
Cathay Pacific will cease its four daily flights to Kuala Lumpur upon the launch of the new Dragonair service. Additionally, five of Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A330 aircraft will be transferred to the Dragonair fleet to support the airline’s operation and growth.
Paul Loo, Director Corporate Development & IT of the Cathay Pacific Group, said: “This is part of our overall growth strategy for the Group. The aircraft transfer will also help to optimise the Group’s training abilities. We continually review the expansion and growth plans for both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, the latter of which will be renamed Cathay Dragon in November.
“The Cathay Pacific Group of airlines remains committed to grow with the Malaysian market, and will continue to provide the same high level of product and service to our customers travelling to and from Malaysia.
“While Dragonair is launching services to Kuala Lumpur, Cathay Pacific is also growing its network of destinations, as reflected by our latest launch to Madrid in June and the upcoming service to Gatwick in London next month. More long-haul flights are planned for 2017. The airline is expanding its fleet with the delivery of two state-of-the art Airbus A350 aircraft already and expects to take delivery of 20 more A350s by the end of 2017.”

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Where else? MH B738?

 

 

If they keep on selling an inferior hard product after the switch for the same price then nice move indeed for CX hahaha :)

 

But on a serious note, they have no direct competition for non stop flight now.. MH 738 is probably a less desirable option anyway

 

Pretty liberal (read: ridiculous) in my company on how they justify flights (read: lame excuses). To be frank, nobody needs a flat bed for 3 1/2 hour flight.. and SQ is pretty expensive. It certainly was/is hard to justify but with this it will be good enough an excuse now to fly down south to SIN and back up if they so choose. I just need to learn bluff like the boys. So no... at least for the few of my colleagues clever enough to BS - the winner isn't actually MH

Edited by Suzanne Goh

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow. I still cannot believe it. Cathay flies to Denpasar and Surabaya and Jakarta and elsewhere in the region. Why are they just picking on Malaysia.

Are we really that low yield compared to elsewhere? I find that hard to fathom...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow. I still cannot believe it. Cathay flies to Denpasar and Surabaya and Jakarta and elsewhere in the region. Why are they just picking on Malaysia.

Are we really that low yield compared to elsewhere? I find that hard to fathom...

So sad to See CX leaving KUL. Blame it on all the political fiasco and the unstability it has caused in Malaysia and ringgit.

 

As per what Perlis Mufti Dr Asri Zainul “They don’t realise that the country is being destroyed by abuse and misadministration,” .

Edited by jadivindra

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Come on guys, no need to exaggerate any political issue with this. It totally is unrelated.

 

If it was, BA, KL, TK, QR etc wouldn't be expanding in KUL.

 

Business is business, and KUL/HKG has strong business connections.

 

In my line of work, it is not uncommon for one to fly to the other for just one meeting and come back.. Like SIN or CGK.

 

So again, it is an extremely weird decision. They could have gone something like 2/2 between CX and KA instead..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Anyone thought of the pressures on the other side of the coin? Continued and further looming industrial dispute with its Pilots http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1987151/cathay-pacific-pilots-reject-new-roster-system-and-ban-new

 

And the airline has categorically stated that it will use Cathay Dragon to circumvent such limitations in the main line to continue regional growth and sustainability http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1940169/cathay-pacific-use-dragonair-get-around-industrial-dispute

 

This move seems introspectively tactical more so than an indication of political and economic assessment of the Malaysian market - the latter surely playing some form of role still - just questioning the size of the pie slice.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Come on guys, no need to exaggerate any political issue with this. It totally is unrelated.

 

If it was, BA, KL, TK, QR etc wouldn't be expanding in KUL.

 

Oh, of course not. The country's financial situation is in no way related to political issues. While listing examples you conveniently left out LH, QF, AF who pulled out, as well as the fact that our very own airline has cut virtually all long-haul routes.

 

Business is business, and KUL/HKG has strong business connections.

 

Evidently, not strong enough for CX to stick around Edited by Chris Tan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

do you think it has something to do with streamlining operation and sales since KA is operating to two other ports in MY?

If that's the case then BKK would be handed over to KA as well, since HKT and CNX are already served by them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It might also have something to do with the rebranding of CX and KA. Since KA will be known as Cathay Dragon from November 2016, it brings it more in line with the Cathay Pacific brand. Perhaps, CX intends to put all non-trunk regional routes on KA and CX will focus on long haul destinations only. Maybe we will see more announcements in the coming months.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, of course not. The country's financial situation is in no way related to political issues. While listing examples you conveniently left out LH, QF, AF who pulled out, as well as the fact that our very own airline has cut virtually all long-haul routes.

 

Evidently, not strong enough for CX to stick around

When did I say the country's politics and finance aren't related? I said it is not related to CX pulling out of Malaysia. Hope you can comprehend this properly instead of sounding sarcastic for no apparent reason.

 

QF? They left KUL 10 million years ago.

 

For the others, that's when you can question yield. Business connections between France/Germany and Malaysia aren't anywhere near Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Edited by jani

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...