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Route of the month

Published: 28/09/2011 - Filed under: Archive » 2011 » October 2011 » Special reports » Archive » 2011 » October 2011 »

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Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business travellers. This month: options from London to Kuala Lumpur

London-Kuala Lumpur

About 15 years ago, the route between the Malaysian capital and London was flourishing, but the effects of the Asian economic downturn of the late 1990s took their toll. As a result, British Airways and other European carriers, with the exception of KLM and Lufthansa, decided to pull out, citing unprofitability on the sector.

It’s difficult to imagine now but BA schedules of 2001 show the carrier operating four B747 services a week on this route, until it withdrew later that year. Malaysia Airlines enjoyed a monopoly out of London until 2009, when local budget carrier Air Asia X appeared on the scene.

With its £99 one-way fares, this Malaysian airline was expected to shake up the market and turn Kuala Lumpur into a low-cost gateway for South East Asia. But, as you will read in In Focus (see page 14), it never happened.

Still, there are some important developments in the pipeline. For starters, Air Asia X will be moving its London operation from Stansted to Gatwick’s South Terminal on October 24. Stansted is a fine airport, but Gatwick has better rail access to central London.

The main news is Malaysia Airlines’ pending membership of Oneworld, which is set to start from the end of next year. When this happens, it will turn Kuala Lumpur into a more important destination, and perhaps other airlines will recognise this.

It is likely British Airways will restart services either using its own planes or under a codeshare arrangement with Malaysia Airlines.

Both carriers have extensive networks beyond their twin hubs of London Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur, meaning better connecting opportunities at both ends. Kuala Lumpur International airport is underutilised – it was set up in the late 1990s to rival nearby Singapore but it never realised its potential. So it has plenty of room to grow.

Malaysia Airlines has also ordered six A380 superjumbos, the first of which is scheduled to enter operation next year. The London route will be a priority.

What Malaysia Airlines offers

The carrier operates twice daily from Heathrow T4 with B747-400s in a conventional three-class layout, with 12 fully-flat seats in first, 41 angled lie-flat seats in business and 306 seats in economy. Flights adopt classic late-morning and late-night departures in each direction.

What Air Asia X offers

One of its 327-seat A340-300s, which features business and economy, serves the route. (The carrier’s other A340-300 is used on its Paris Orly-Kuala Lumpur service.) Gone are the old Air Canada business seats, replaced by 18 angled lie-flat beds (170 degrees) that are priced in line with a conventional carrier’s premium economy fare. The news is not so good concerning economy – to generate more revenue, Air Asia X ditched the A340’s conventional eight-across 2-4-2 layout in favour of a denser nine-across configuration of 3-3-3.

Schedules vary by day of the week. Flights from London go overnight but inbound services operate during daylight hours. Right now, there are six flights a week from Stansted but, during November, schedules are cut to three services a week out of Gatwick to allow for aircraft maintenance. Then, from early December to March there will be five a week. Flights arrive at Kuala Lumpur’s low-cost carrier terminal, which is quite some distance from the main facilities that are used by conventional carriers.

Air Asia X hopes to replace the four-engine A340 with a more fuel-efficient twin-engine A330 sometime next year. This plane will also be configured for two classes with the same seating types.

The indirect alternative

The classiest route is to take one of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) three daily flights, two of which are operated by A380s, into the city-state. They offer good onboard products and the best connections for the northbound hop to Kuala Lumpur. (Its service out of Manchester takes longer because there is an en route stop at Munich.) But SIA has the highest prices.

Most convenient is KLM’s daily service via Amsterdam because you have a departure choice from so many UK regional airports. Lufthansa is not so convenient as its service touches down in Bangkok.

The best prices are with the Gulf carriers, which depart from London and regional airports. Emirates operates thrice-daily between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur using B777s. One of these services will be upgraded to an A380 from December 1.

Fares

For a return fare in mid-November incorporating a Saturday-night stay:

• Air Asia X: expect to pay upwards of £646 (plus fees for baggage, meals and so on) in economy, with business class priced at £1,883 (add extra for meals only).
• Malaysia Airlines: under £700 in economy, more than £2,800 for business and about £6,000 for first.
• KLM: less than £700 in economy and about £3,000 for business class.
• SIA: under £800 in economy, about £3,000 in business and £11,700 in first classGulf carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar: about £550 for economy, upwards of £2,000 for business, first class (Emirates only) under £5,000.

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COMMENTS » 

cityprofessional - 01/11/2011 12:01

"The main news is Malaysia Airlines’ pending membership of Oneworld..."

Isn't the main news the virtual merger between Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia...?

Incidentally, Singapore Airlines hardly flies to KUL any more, and not all LHR flights connect easily. Flying Silkair is fine, but obviously you get no Star Alliance benefits - no miles, no lounge access

Emirates, Qatar, Thai and Cathay all fly more frequently to KUL than Singapore Airlines, and most offer much faster connections

BusinessTraveller - 03/11/2011 09:11

“Point taken about Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines. But the cross-shareholding is 20 per cent which is hardly the “virtual merger” you mention. In any case, since the deal was struck last August there have been no changes to London route services (other than Air AsiaX’s move to Gatwick) which was the focus of my piece.

As for indirect flights, note that there are two SIA-SIA connections every day plus a further one outbound between SIA and Silk Air. In general the Changi connections are superior to those via Dubai, Doha and Bangkok. In any case, SIA can boast of the A380 (Emirates’ A380 service to Kuala Lumpur has not yet started) and our readers tell they like Singapore otherwise they would not have voted Changi the world’s best airport over umpteen years.

I discounted Cathay Pacific simply because flying via Hong Kong is a backhaul and so would add a further five to seven hours to the overall journey time.”

Alex McWhirter

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