[Anonymous]

[AMcWhirter]

Malaysian Airlines has quietly unveiled details of new business class seating for its A330 flights. Its A330s curently operate within Asia and to Australia.

As discussed previously, the versions operated by MAB do not have the range to reach Europe non-stop and that is why the carrier continues to use either its A380s or its elderly B777-200s.

Unlike MAB’s current A380 business class seats, the ones presently installed on its A330s are not fully lie-flat.

Judging by the publicity blurb, the new seats, which will be fully flat, will begin to come into service from April 2016.

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/experience/business-class/new_level_of_comfort.html

[fclswannabe]

Disappointing choice. The Zodiac Cirrus seats would have been a far better option. This was MAB’s opportunity to create a high quality Biz product, a la Cathay Pacific and Qatar.

[Ashburn]

I supposed you have tried the MAB seats already?

[fclswannabe]

@ Ashburn – clearly not, since the MAB seats will be introduced next year. I made my statement based on the fact that the Zodiac product offers superior privacy and all seats have direct aisle access, with more spacious footwells.

[AMcWhirter]

fclswannabe – Yes it would be nicer to have direct aisle access but as I mentioned above these A330s will be rostered for what SE Asian carriers consider regional routes.

MAB’s A330s do not have the range to reach Europe non-stop.

Business class seating on MAB’s A350s will surely be better. By that time, remember, MAB hopes to have disposed of all its A380s …although nobody knows who will take them off MAB’s hands.

[lcpteck]

That’s true, MH A333s serves the regional network and very few airlines serving them have flat beds to begin with.

[MarcusGB]

And as many have stated including Reviews of the current Business Bed on MH the A380, it is NOT fully flat, dipping at the end on the foot rest. Having flown it 3 times since its inception, it has not changed.

It is wrongly described as Horizontal flat / Fully Flat!

[EU_Flyer]

Given, as others have mentioned above, the A330s will be used to service MH’s regional network – the product will stack up very nicely compared to other full service Asian carriers’ medium haul products.

This investment demonstrates that MH’s focus in the short to medium term will be building profitability through this regional network and scaling back their unproitable European long haul services which operate in a highly competitive market already.

Like many airlines these days, MH deosn’t need to fly to everywhere. So long as it’s core regional business remains strong, this will be the key to her success. This product makes MH very competitive in this respect – in my opinion.

[AMcWhirter]

As we reported in Sepember, MAB will begin acquiring its new A350s from 2017 onwards.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/102037/malaysia-airlines-orders-four-a350-900s

The idea is that these aircraft will operate to Europe and, assuming MAB can find a buyer for its six A380s, will replace the superjumbo on the LHR route.

CDG was expected to be dropped but it may now remain on the network seeing as AF has decided to cease flying to KUL.

But a question mark must hang over AMS.

MAB has two A380s surplus to requirements at the present time. They are either parked on the tarmac at KUL or else they have been pressed into service on ad hoc charter flights.

In recent times, one A380 was used to take the Real Madrid team from Spain to Australia while another has been utilised for Hajj flights to Saudi Arabia.

[cityprofessional]

Just to clarify

1. MH has categorically said it will keep the A380 on the LHR route, in multiple press interviews; loads are not an issue on this route, albeit yields could be better; it has operated up to 18x 744s per week in the past

2. MH flies its A330s to eg MEL, SYD, PEK and NRT. Given that all its allegedly “world class” competitors, both direct (EK, JQ, NH, CA, etc) and indirect (SQ, TG, CX) offer angled flat seats and only the occasional substituted longhaul flat bed (not guaranteed), 100% flat beds seems pretty competitive to me…

[JohnHarper]

I don’t think either CX or SQ offer angled seats on routes to Australia any longer.

[AMcWhirter]

If MAB can find a buyer for its A380s they would soon leave the fleet.

Alright, so their could be changes over the next few years but it was widely reported last month that the A350s will takeover from the routes (currently only London) now served by the A380.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2015-10-19/malaysia-airlines-replace-london-a380s-a350s

CX and SIA do offer fully flat beds on some regional routes. Much depends on the plane type and the route.

For example, SIA provides fully flat beds on those Singapore-Tokyo or Singapore-Hong Kong flights served by A380s or B777-300ERs.

It’s the same in the case of Australia. Whereas some flights to Sydney or Melbourne are operated by the above aircraft types some are flown by other plane types. This especially applies in the case of flights to Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Some regional and Australian flights are flown by A330s which are configured 2-2-2 with angled lie-flat seating.

[tomyam42]

I find calling flights to Australia “regional” is pushing the limits a bit. For most Asian airlines they 8 hours plus – that could get one across the Atlantic. However a circle round Taipei and Jakarta or Hong Kong and Japan are reasonably regional. Certainly CX has flat beds for Australia and India. Shorter haul seating varies by the hour as they decide which configuration to throw at you. You can’t book any with certainty. Having said all that, Asian airlines Bizzo seats are way ahead of anything used in Europe. As a consequence I try to minimize (eliminate) my intra-European flights whenever possible.

[EU_Flyer]

Hello Alex McWhirter!

Further to what was reported by BT earlier, it makes sense for MAB to bring in a new aircraft to kick start their renewal program.

The new A350s will enable MAB to operate a more viable and competitive product into Europe – a market they’re certainly not abandoning – despite their apparent current focus on their regional Asia + Australia business.

Mueller is an experienced CEO and will no doubt be challenging the conservative management MH has had historically.

Interestingly, he’s chosen the same seat (Thomson Aero Vantage XL) for MH’s new A330 business class as he used at Aer Lingus. I’ve never tried it but it seems to be a practical configuration of single and double seats with about 90% direct aisle access.

It’s an exciting development for MH and I hope it works for them as well as acting a a launch pad for more changes to come.

This for an airline that’s had far more bad luck than its fair share.

[Author]

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