Malaysia Airways

[goldeneye]

Malaysian National News Agency (http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=186835) are reporting that MH are to cut six routes, These are Ahmedabad and Kolkata in India, Xi'an in China, Padang in Indonesia and Manchester and Vienna in Europe.

[NWBizJet]

Been told this is a three year plan to turnaround the business and raise 1 billion cash this year. more news to come..

[Manchester Exile]

I may be imagining this, but didn't Malaysia pull out of Ringway some years ago, only to re-instate the route when they "realised it was profitable" after all?

I know their loads are good in Y class - not sure about the front end though. I think they carry about 9000 passengers a month to / from Ringway - the question is, where will those passengers fly from once MAS exit Manchester?

[Silver Tongued Cavalier]

I suspect Singapore, Emirates and Qatar etc will pick up some traffic, shame they couldn't even operate a 777 here profitably.

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

If you read the report from Malasian they can`t even operate Heathrow at a profit so something is very seriously wrong with the airline at present

G-I-B

[WHBM]

they can`t even operate Heathrow at a profit
Possibly because they provide such an enormous amount of capacity from Heathrow (3 x 747 a day) to what is basically a secondary Asian hub, which they have to fill up with cheap fares and cheaper transit traffic. It's good for the passenger numbers, not so good for the business.

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

The big question is are the current MAS pax flying from MAN flying to Malaysia as a destination.

If yes, then pax will have to route through LHR or another European MAS hub in the future.

If no, then many will just pickup SQ or EK.

My guess is that many use MAS as a cheap airline to Australasia, so will easily re-route on different airlines from MAN.

[ScootCargoOps]

From what I remember MAS only has the third service on Days 2,3,6 & 7. If they can’t fill their flights from London then it makes better sense to close Manchester and bring the PAX to LHR.

Also it wasn’t that long ago they retimed the Manchester services to improve load factors, this must not have worked.

Plus aren’t they removing the direct LGW & PEN flights to improve connectivity through the hub and boost load factors on domestic routes.

[Cyrano]

If you read the report from Malasian they can`t even operate Heathrow at a profit so something is very seriously wrong with the airline at present

G-I-B, can you point me at the report you refer to, please? The reports I found on the MAS website don't seem to go down to route level, just regional level.

Thanks!
C.

[EI-CFC]

My guess is that many use MAS as a cheap airline to Australasia, so will easily re-route on different airlines from MAN.

With the upcoming launch of DeathStar..*cough*, sorry JetStar International, I suspect MAN could be on the list of destinations.

[ScootCargoOps]

I’ve also heard Jetstar International could be heading to Manchester. I believe QF still has the daily slots as well. Aiming to take a chunk out of SQ/EK Northern market share.

[VHF FLYER]

Have flown in C Class on the MAN- KUL once - was about 75% full in C and full in Y both ways.Pretty good for a non-stop 744.
Truth is though that this airline has been run as a national status symbol rather than a commercial operation. They have effectively 'dumped' seats on the UK - KUL route to the extent that even BA pulled their route from Heathrow.
Manchester won't notice the difference since most were en-route to Oz and will use EK, SQ who are going non stop daily, QR, going daily and now EY also about to go daily. It will also probably give Thai a nudge who are already lined up for 2007 (and IMHO offer a better product).
Can't imagine people connecting down to LHR to travel with MAS, they'll simply lose the business.
Good luck to MAS in their restructuring and maybe see them back at MAN one day.

[andybsei]

Also it wasn’t that long ago they retimed the Manchester services to improve load factors, this must not have worked.
I believe the flight time change was due more to a massive reduction in landing fees being offered by MAN to fill T2 at off peak times. This meant that the connections in KUL were terrible to certain destinations....seems MAN may have unwittingly attributed to MH's pull out from the airport.....

[ScootCargoOps]

Changing to the evening service meant they offered better connection times to SYD & MEL. Where as the morning service didn't offer a timely connection. I was at MAS at the time.

[ScootCargoOps]

Has anyone heard anymore on this?

[travellingman]

27 Mar, 2006
19 TRUNK ROUTES IDENTIFIED FOR MALAYSIA AIRLINES
Malaysia Airlines will restructure its domestic operations through 19 trunk routes. Each of these routes currently generate an annual average load of 15,000 international connection passengers, and/or 13,000 front end (business/first class) passengers.
Applying these two dimensions, Malaysia Airlines will now operate 7 routes between KL International Airport (KLIA) and Peninsular Malaysia cities, 6 routes between KLIA and Sabah/Sarawak, and 6 routes within Sabah and Sarawak.
These routes include: KL-Penang, KL-Langkawi, KL-Kota Kinabalu, KL-Kuching, KL-Johor Bahru, KL-Miri, KL-Sibu, KL-Terengganu, KL-Kota Bharu, KL-Alor Setar, KL-Kuantan, KL-Bintulu, KL-Labuan, Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu-Tawau, Kota Kinabalu-Labuan, Kuching-Kota Kinabalu, Kuching-Sibu and Kuching-Miri.
"Our original intention was to take back the P&L for the domestic sector from PMB in 2007 and build this out as a viable business unit. Having said that, we understand the Government’s vision to establish two national champions in the international aviation sector – one in full service and the other in low cost.
Taking this as a starting point, we analysed all our domestic routes and identified these 19 routes as key to ensuring our future success. We are confident that we will be able to work closely with Air Asia to ensure that connectivity and interlining issues are addressed in a timely manner and that international passenger traffic in and out of Kuala Lumpur will not be affected," said Idris Jala, Managing Director, Malaysia Airlines.
"This collaboration is the beginning of a new era for the airline industry in Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia will use the current framework to build a strong platform for launching a airline powerhouse in Asia Pacific.
"The Government has agreed to give us a free hand in managing the network, and this will mean that we will have full control on determining capacity, frequency and pricing. Managing yields will be a key factor to ensure profitability and its important for us to be able to manage this."
This exercise will see aircraft being reduced from 40 to 21, and stations right-sized from 32 to 16. This will also result in Malaysia Airlines’ current manpower being reduced by around 6500 from its existing staff strength of approximately 23,000.
The government has committed to provide financial assistance in order to compensate Malaysia Airlines for the cost involved in the restructuring of its domestic sector.
Malaysia Airlines released its Business Turnaround Plan on 27 Feb 2006 aimed at achieving sustained profitability by going beyond expectations in 5 thrusts – Flying to win customers, Mastering operational excellence, Financing and aligning the business on profit & loss, Unleashing talents and capabilities and Winning coalitions.

[ScottyB]

Hi,

I'm new to this and came across the forum as we've been contacted by our travel agent to notify us of the Malaysian Airlines flight change.

We were due to fly from Manchester in May but we've been told that Malaysian are flying us from Manchester to Heathrow with BMI. Very generous of them but it must add to their costs.

[apaddyinuk]

It seems to me that MH are in worse condition then perhaps many realise. On my companies intranet site today there was an article saying the MH are cutting alomst 90 odd domestic routes and handing them over to Air Asia to operate and reducing their shorthaul fleet in half! Rather drastic if you ask me. Could they be going the same way as Phillipines who are a mere shadow of their former selves?

[EI-CFC]

Very generous of them but it must add to their costs.

Probably still cheaper than continuing providing loss-making flights!

[GrahamK]

Probably still cheaper than continuing providing loss-making flights!
Aye, but their LHR flights are loss making too :ouch:

[flyingfrog]

I know it's nearly April Fool's day, but neverthless, could bmi step into Malaysian's shoes on these routes, not sure if there are any restrictions. There must be a 340 spare somewhere.

FF

[jongeman]

There's no reason why bmi should want to operate to KUL from MAN, or LHR for that matter. There was obviously some O&D traffic, but connections via KUL wouldn't be available to bmi.

Even though MAN bosses (as usual) say they'll be working to re-instate the service (rarely works), I can't see a need for it ever again. Given that the chances that MAN will see TG, CX, Jetstar and maybe a slight chance of NZ in the distant future, there'll never be a need for a KUL service.

Nice while it lasted, but that's it.

[Kagi]

Hi,

I'm new to this and came across the forum as we've been contacted by our travel agent to notify us of the Malaysian Airlines flight change.

We were due to fly from Manchester in May but we've been told that Malaysian are flying us from Manchester to Heathrow with BMI. Very generous of them but it must add to their costs.

I too came across this forum looking for info as have been contacted to state we must now go via Heathrow (May 23). Flight times offered are crap, involving 3:50 wait in Heathrow (LHR), plus extended wait of 2:35 in KL (KUL) -awaiting connecting flight to Langkawi (LGK). This adds 7 hours onto our original travelling time, plus the need to take extra annual leave and we will now arrive at LGK hotel during the night. Agent/Operator will not budge on alternative connecting flight times, won't even give Airport lounges, even though we have booked airport lounge at MAN. I would like to know if you (or anyone else) managed to get anything/who gave it, etc. as my only other idea was to write direct to Lim Cheng Heo, MAS Regional Manager (UK)!
Any advice would be gratefully received...

[MAN777]

If its right they are stopping Vienna AND Manchester direct flights, what about combining the destinations ?

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

It`s not the loads, it`s the yield that is the problem
The Heathrow flights are full and still lose money, sounds like they have tried to take on the likes of Singapore Airlines and Emirates and lost badly

G-I-B

[EI-CFC]

Aye, but their LHR flights are loss making too

But less so ;)

..and much more high "prestige" - which I think still counts a lot in MH

[newscaster]

MH will be doing seasonal flights to Bahrain and Kuwait this year with A330.

[Kagi]

Further to my earlier posting, I've found out some disappointing news: In a bid to return to profitability, government-owned MAS says it will scrap poorly performing routes and consider charging for in-flight food. At the same time it will accommodate more passengers on its planes by cutting the size of the business class cabin and squeezing in more economy class seats.
"If nothing is done," claims MAS management, "we are likely to run up losses of £259 million (RM 1.7 billion) this year. Although the government is committed to MAS it will not bail us out."
MAS says it will withdraw its four times a week B747 service KL to Manchester on May 1 followed by its three times a week B777 service to Vienna on June 1. MAS's daily B777 service to Frankfurt will still continue but flight frequency will be cut to a five flights a week operation from May 31.
The decision to drop Manchester is a blow to the UK's Northwest as MAS provided Mancunians with connections to destinations throughout Asia and Australasia. Says Tim McDermott, the airport's development director, "We're obviously disappointed to see the route withdrawn. However, we will continue to work closely with MAS towards the reinstatement of the service."

[mdk_evil]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the news that MH may be starting a KUL-BNE direct service and not going via SYD :ok:

[daz211]

Going head to head with AirAsia-X hope they can match the low fares.