Malaysia Airlines to reactivate B747 for London route ?
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at 13:16 by AMcWhirter.
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AMcWhirterParticipantFans of the B747 may soon have the opportunity to once again fly this iconic aircraft to Kuala Lumpur from London Heathrow.
Malaysia Airlines is short of aircraft capable of flying non-stop between Kuala Lumpur and Europe.
Its B747s were retired from active service some time ago while its B777-200s were recently withdrawn when the carrier axed its Amsterdam/Frankfurt/Paris CDG routes.
Although Malaysia Airlines has a fleet of six A380s, four of these are rostered for the London route while the other two operate pilgrim flights to Saudi Arabla.
But now Malaysia Airlines finds that its A380s must undergo scheduled maintenance starting next month.
Initially it was thought that the airline would have to cancel a number of flights to London while the A380s were out of service.
But reports now suggest that one of the carrier’s B747-400s (currentlly parked at KUL) will be restored to service to temporarily
replace one of the out-of-service A380s.Dutch aviation website luchtvaartnieuws.nl [NL] says this is a “striking” move because the B747 was replaced by the A380 on the London route back in 2012.
Judging by the photo shown on China Aviation Daily, Malaysia Airlines is currently painting this B747-400 is a retro livery from the 1970s.
http://www.chinaaviationdaily.com/news/51/51435.html
At the time of writing it was unclear which, if any, flights this B747-400
will be operating to London.And neither is it clear whether or not Malaysia Airlines will be updating the onboard accommodation on the B747-400..
18 Mar 2016
at 17:29
Mazin26ParticipantI wonder if the planes are still fuel efficient enough in this day and age and are the cabins noise on par with the new Airbus and Boeing. Points for trying though as MAS used to be my favourite airline back in the day and there was a time when the KUL-LHR sector was always full twice a day and the planes was 747-400
20 Mar 2016
at 13:19
JohnHarperParticipantWouldn’t it be more likely that a 744 was configured with a high density lay out and used for Hadj flights and the A380s continue to serve London?
20 Mar 2016
at 14:00
AMcWhirterParticipantBut if this B747 were intended for pilgrim flights then why go to the expense and trouble of a retro livery ?
22 Mar 2016
at 14:49
cityprofessionalParticipantArguably it’s an improvement vs the A380 in First (in the nose) and in Economy (well, 2 inches extra legroom)
I guess they could offer Business passengers to change to the other London flight if they preferred the A380
22 Mar 2016
at 16:02
cityprofessionalParticipant747 is an improvement over the A380 because there was more legroom in economy, and more window seats/less disturbance from staff/galleys in the nose for first
Arguably the two smaller business cabins (incl upper deck) are more intimate than the dormitory on the A380, although seats weren’t fully flat
The IFE screen quality is not so good, but to be honest MH never paid much money for content, so you’re not missing anything. Bring a book…
23 Mar 2016
at 09:31
LetsFlyNowParticipantI read on Wikipedia ( yea,i know not so reliable) that MAS has 21 aircraft in storage/ parked. I’d assume that one has to be a norm. config 747 that they’d use for LHR routes and not just the high density ones used for Hajj trips.
It’s not like there’s been a huge market for the 747s and it’s only in the last year that with falling oil prices, airlines decided to keep them abit longer in service. I bet many airlines have theirs parked somewhere without a buyer.
23 Mar 2016
at 13:10 -
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