[Anonymous]

[MarcusGB]

(Apologies searched and cannot find the thread re MH survival…)

Arrived in Sydney a few days ago, and spoken to one colleague who flew down here 6 weeks ago ex LHR, and one friend on the way now.
Both stated that on their flights, the aircraft were completely full, A380 ex LHR and flights on the A333 down to Sydney.

I also mentioned that their domestic flights were full when i travelled about 6 weeks ago from KLIA for many routes.

I am not sure where these “rows of empty seats” comes from, but many colleagues and friends here in Australia, are still relying on them for Asia holidays and business trips, as Qantas have few left, so they still seem popular and favoured here also.
people do not feel that the Airline is at fault or running with worries that concern them.
They continue to have good custom and popularity from Australia, and clearly our of LHR.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Marcus

Here’s the link to my Blog posting last week:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Alex-On-…-Can-Malaysia-Airlines-current-route-network-survive

[K1ngston]

I concur MarcusGB I have also travelled MH ex LHR to BNE at least 5 times this year and having travelled with them through KLIA recently also there are no empty seats and there is also a sense of pride and meaning almost a coming together of spirit to try and make sure they survive certainly here in Asia

I still think they will have to do something to repair the tarnished reputation, which I believe they are considering and to maintain my loyalty to them I am travelling next week on one of their 777-200’s to the sub continent where also the loads are full!

Lets hope they do manage to turn things around as they are still one of the better airlines for service in my opinion

[Henry]

I was on the flight from BKK to KUL and the business was full too, but it was a B 737-800

[rodders]

took their A330 flight from Dubai to KL a month ago, was about 50% full, which for a relatively new route for MH was ok I thought.

[SimonS1]

Depends what prices the tickets are being sold at I guess. Full flights does not automatically mean profits.

The investigation into the missing flight seems to have gone quiet – is it still going on?

[AMcWhirter]

As Simon has noted, full flights do not guarantee profitability.

One problem faced by all Asian carriers is the fact that the cost of a ticket to Australia, compared to one for a destination in Asia itself, can be only a little higher.

I just checked MAS business class fares from LHR to MEL next month on Opodo (travelling out Nov 5, back on Nov 12) and the quoted price was £3,016. That compares to LHR-KUL-LHR which (for the same dates with MAS) was priced at £2,786.

In other words. the cost of the onwards business class return from KUL to MEL costs only an extra £230. Yet in terms of distance, KUL-MEL is equivalent to flying between LHR and the US East Coast.

MAS’ flights between KUL and Australia may well be enjoying high load factors right now but the airline has recently been incentivising agents DownUnder with free trips, Rolex watches and so on.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/struggling-malaysia-airlines-offers-rolex-watches-free-trips-to-travel-agents/story-e6frg8zx-1227061963108

[SenatorGold]

I’m flying MAS business class LHR-KUL-BNE on 1 December returning on 6 December. The fare was £2,984.00. In contrast on the same dates the fare on Singapore was £4,870. From what I’ve read here, I expect my flights to be full, but as others including Alex have commented, whether they will be profitable is another matter.

[AnthonyDunn]

SimonS1,

I think that after an interregnum, the hunt has resumed on the southern part of the track identified by Inmarsat. But things have gone very, very quiet.

[MarcusGB]

With the new Liberal Government, it is the Foreign Minister who is overseeing the missing MH issues. She met with Putin a few days ago, and other world leaders closely involved with the search. She is perceived here as doing a good job on this, keeping different countries and individuals on board, and driving to make progress / secure funding to solve this mysterious tragedy.

Fares from Australia to Europe or just up to Asia, would be normally 50% more Ex Australia than we pay Ex Europe. This has always been the case here. So actually those cheap fares we see from LHR, are seen here, though as Alex mentions, many incentives and discounts but they still do not match the cheaper fares we access.

£700 Ex LHR-SYD with MH, £2,750 Business return. Ex Sydney you pay £1,000 for a return to Asia.

BA were advertising flights at £1100 equivalent here in the newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, but their Business fare was £4285.
As everyone knows, we can get return Business fares from around £2,200 Ex LHR.

So MH make more money from their Australian passengers than we may think they do for Europe.

Clearly, confidence is returning for them and i am pleased to see this having served us well for a long history. Be very interesting if people could identify when they flew what the loads looked like.

Thanks for the return discussions…

[BrotherJim]

MarcusGB, think you are confusing MH17 with MH370.

There is no search for MH17, they know where that is but yes there is a continuted debate with Russia and others.

The search is for MH370 don’t think Putin and other world leaders are too involved in that one. The ATSB for some reason would still appear to be leading the search with a few other countries chipping in.

As for MH, if the loads are up then people are clearly not afraid to fly them, which if I am not mistaken was the core fear. Whilst yield may not be good on the loads, the fact they are getting the loads can only be a positive.

[batterytraveller]

@MarcusGB

‘With the new Liberal Government,’

thankfully with three year terms we are nearly halfway done with these feckless clowns. (I am being very generous with the halfway point)

[Str8Talking]

“I just checked MAS business class fares from LHR to MEL next month on Opodo (travelling out Nov 5, back on Nov 12) and the quoted price was £3,016. That compares to LHR-KUL-LHR which (for the same dates with MAS) was priced at £2,786.

In other words. the cost of the onwards business class return from KUL to MEL costs only an extra £230. Yet in terms of distance, KUL-MEL is equivalent to flying between LHR and the US East Coast.”

I think the above example does not prove anything about costs, because at the end of the day, the pricing is all about marketing. Using Alex’s dates, a flight from LHR-DOH in Business return costs £3676 on QR. Change that to LHR-CPT on QR return and the cost drops to £2017 using the same flights to DOH. Does that mean the flights from DOH to CPT and back are -£1659? Similarly, LHR-PER is £3191 on QR, does that make the 11 hour flights to Perth and back cost -£485? The flights are marketed according to their demand. And as is the norm, direct longhaul flights are more expensive than indirect routings.

[SimonS1]

Indeed Str8Talking, I find my fares to Africa on EK are either flat or slightly lower compared to a flight to Dubai and back.

However the margins in the airline industry are fine as we know, and EK has much higher volumes than MH.

If your prices are low enough you will always fill seats. The old Aeroflot, Royal Brunei etc have proved that.

[Author]

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