Guy Betsy

Looks like they will keep F class on the A350 but only reduced to one row

https://www.ausbt.com.au/malaysia-ai...eing-787-order

nov11

Are they using Vantage (on MH 330) or Vantage XL (on QF 330) for the 350s?

And in the article, Bellew mentioned that India, Bali and Hong Kong will be upgraded to the new leased widebody when they get it. I noticed that 1 of the 3 daily DPS flights has already been upgauged to 330 for summer. ^

SLGO

MH is already flying 1 of the 3 daily flights to Hong Kong with A330.

By the way, are the A330s all refurbished with the new J seats?

Too much travel

Yes - if you aren't in a rush, then booking the business class seats well in advance for a SIN transfer gets you 80 CXMP points for around HK $5k - quite a good deal (around $60 per point).

nov11

Yes and I think they want a second or maybe all 3 flights on A333.

Guy Betsy

TPE could do with a widebodied service too. My last flight in Jan was a full load .. and the check in agent said that it was almost an every day occurrence for the flight to both KUL and BKI. Mind you, Air Asia flies the A330 to TPE and it was sort of embarrassing to see the 737-800 pull up next to Air Asia X's aircraft at the gate.

Hopefully that would also open up direct widebodied services from / to Penang. MH does not have any other destinations to/from Penang other than KL. Those were the days when there was a direct 744 service from LHR to KL via Penang. And then one can buy a ticket between Penang and KL. Must be the shortest 747 service around then...

MeltingAlf

Bellew did mention in a CAPA article he wanted more wide bodies and less narrows - and that there are many wide bodies getting offloaded by other majors but he is waiting for the lease price to get a bit lower with all the overcapacity of used aircrafts coming up, IIRC.

Personally I don't think it's a 'if' wide bodies start colonising all the longer intra-Asia routes, but a 'when'. Getting rid of their 772s made sense during the restructuring, but it did cause quite a dip in MH wide body capacity. It streamlined their fleet, but the A330 fleet really looked a bit small to cover things, especially if they were to go into expansion - which is now.

Also I think if they do have 738s left after getting in more wide bodies and Chinese flights, they should try to develop routes out of places like LGK, MYY, SBW, TWU to destinations like SIN - could make them some money if they avoid competing with AK head-on.

But ah well - at least things are getting rosier at MH!

SilverChris

Did the flight arrive in KUL as an international flight? How did they separate the international and domestic pax?

nov11

Yes. All pax will disembark into the international arrivals hall and those domestic pax will need to show their BP and ID to the immigration officer and they'll just wave you through.

Very similar to those domestic flights that are part of an international flight in Australia/India.

Enhancements

I'm not as optimistic on TPE's widebody prospects, though. CI and BR have multiple frequencies and US feed, while D7 pretty much suffices for the cheap ticket chasers. CAN on the other hand, was a 772 route before.

nov11

TPE was a 333 before too IIRC plus a red-eye 738 (or was it a double daily 738). CAN was 772 plus a red-eye 738 ex-CAN.

CI is just showing off It was a 747 before, now a 350 and soon a 77W plus 5 weekly 738.

TGflyergirl

I've flown MH7 LGK-KUL and it was as Nov11 says, deplane into the international arrivals, show ID and boarding pass to get waved through.

TGflyergirl

TPE was a double daily 737. MH408 KUL TPE in the middle of the night (which I dearly loved. There was a girl I used to see on this route every 3rd week when I was a regular on this service) returning as 409 in the morning, alongside the 366/367 today.

SLGO

Thanks for your suggestion. That's what I did (twice) last year and at cheaper fare it would make a more pleasant jounrney if they operate A330 for the HKG segment !

wolf72

Is the A380 a waste for MH to use on the KUL-Beijing or KUL-TPE or KUL-HK route once a day vs the 350 or even 330?