[Skyluxe]

A small piece of historical trivia to add to the discussion…

In June 1982 BA9 was flying from KUL to PER when it flew into a cloud of volcanic ash erupting from Mount Galunggung. This of course was the famous “Speedbird 9” incident that has received so much publicity over the years.

The actual routing of BA9 back then was LHR-BOM-MAA-KUL-PER-MEL-AKL. Quite a flight!

[Kais767]

I agree that KUL doesn’t get a lot of OW traffic to feed connecting pax. Currently, QF is out of the picture, CX actually codeshares with BA on their KUL-HKG to connect to HKG-LHR, while the other OW members are JAL and Royal Jordanian.

The thing is KUL is close to BKK and very close to SIN and both of those cities are adequately served by OW members and are hubs of *A members for their connecting pax.

I agree maybe BA can consider LHR-KUL-DPS (I don’t think DPS direct will be feasible). If they fly KUL-CGK they’ll be competing with KLM too, among others.

And Jetstar flew 2x/wk SYD-KUL but they chose to stop it because they needed the aircraft for the NRT flights.

[Senator]

Ausline,

I stand corrected…. Forgot about VS.. If I recall, their service is only about 2-3 years old?

Anyway, if any of you have not been on MAS I would recommend it. Last summer I could travel ARN-KUL directly on MAS for €1400 return in business. First was €2500. SYD and MEL was priced at €2200 return in business and SYD €3300 in First.

I now know why they don’t operate the KUL-ARN-EWR-ARN-KUL route any longer with those fares..

[hinunung]

Why not try London Gatwick – KUL – Denpasar – Brisbane? The LGW – KUL segment should include a niche market, as BA is highly recognized for its flat bed seats. A four times weekly 777 may fit well.

[Bucksnet]

BA have got 2 flights to SIN that leave LHR 10 minutes apart and one of them continues on to SYD. Maybe that flight can be moved to KUL as most of the passengers are probably going all the way, so it makes little difference where it stops. BA can then get additional business to KUL from both LHR and SYD.

[PsyDtoBe]

Bucksnet,

as much as you want to imagine of moving the route from SIN to KUL, it won’t happen. firstly, I would think that BA/QF/CX/JL sees SQ as a competitor rather than Malaysia Airline, therefore that one flight out of SIN to SYD is to compliment QF flights, serving the same routes and CX flights to Colombo, BKK, and HKG or even JL flight to NRT and HND in case there will be routes that need to be taken in the next couple of days after SIN as part of the business or leisure trips or Oneworld global explorer, where the alliance has a good amount of flight out of SIN.

Beside, there are more British and European companies in SIN which eventually leads to more British and European travel for business to Singapore.

[Binman62]

PsyDtoBe. Agree BA will not drop SIN in favour of KUL. the reason they withdrew in the first place was that KUL was a white elephant airport miles from anywhere and hugely expensive. It could not support the yields BA required and MS simply dumped fares to get them, and at one stage, every other European airline out. Remember that for some years no Euro airline went into KUL. The introduction of the train to the city and the advent of low costs operators has changed things at KL, which I think is a great airport.

VK is also right that for the route to happen something has to give due to the lack of aircraft.

BA with drew from TPE MNL CGK and SEL which were extensions to the lunch time HKG BA31. SEL operated non stop for a short time until the Asian economy bubble burst and the currency went into free fall ( I remember bagging an F return from SEL for about £900 at the time.

Personally I would welcome a DPS service as I visit most years and getting there is circuitous on One World and expensive on SQ. KLM operate via SIN while Qatar operate via KUL. Whilst Bali is great for tourists I am not sure it could support a regular BA flight.

My hunch is that China would be BAs first choice for new routes due to flying time and booming economy. Seoul will also again feature I am certain and do not rule out Vietnam and all before KUL.

As others have said what I do not understand is the bunching of departures from LHR at night. 2.x HKG 3 if you include QF from next year. 3 x SIN 2 x BKK SYD. This is not offering choice and surely limiting opportunities for expansion beyond SIN BKK HKG.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Bucksnet

It won’t happen. That second BA flight to SYD takes the long-standing routing via BKK. The latter city generates far more traffic than would KUL. Also BKK is better located on the kangaroo route (ie it’s that much closer to Europe) so it doesn’t suffer quite so much from payload restrictions under certain conditions.

[Senator]

Binman62 and others bring up and interesting point about KUL and DPS. While it is not optimal, you can fly into BKK on BA and connect to KUL using LH on a seperate ticket. The business fare for BKK-KUL on LH was around £200 last time I checked as they have traffic rights on the route. Not sure how this fits with the BA schedule, and BKK-KUL is four days a week but is a fairly inexpensive option.

In addition, KLM has traffic rights on SIN-DPS and can be added in the same way for a low cost as well. Don’t know the timing for connections with BA’s SIN services.

I would ensure however, to add to same booking despite different tickets to avoid hassle in case of delays etc.

[Bucksnet]

LondonCity, we seem to be at cross purposes. The SYD flight via BKK can stay.

What I was talking about was the 2nd BA flight to SIN; they have 2 within 10 minutes of each other! One terminates at SIN and the other carries on to SYD. It is that flight than can be moved to go via KUL and if most of the passengers are going all the way then it makes little difference where it stops.

[NorseFlyer]

With the growt rate in Vietnam a good combination would be a LHR-KUL-SGN route. LH flies four time/week on FRA-BKK-SGN, AF has several weekly nonstop flights to HAN and some weekly to SGN via BKK.

[PsyDtoBe]

Bucksnet,

KUL-SYD is monopolized by MH, QF doesn’t fly there, it really indicates that either approval is impossible or a low passengers loads. If they want to change it, CGK-SYD would be a visible option, CX, QF, JL has step up ther game on Jakarta, JL will use their new 773ER to the city and make Jakarta the only Asian city serve by JL 773ER. QF fly there daily and Garuda is abt to fly twice daily which mean an increase in load factors. Beside, Australia has a stronger relation with Indonesia than Malaysia, So if their focus is on SYD, Jakarta will be a more visible choice.

Norseflyer,
KUL-SGN is a “going up route” it doesn’t make sense for BA to go to KUL first than SGN.

So, if BA have to fly to KUL as a transit point, Jakarta or DPS will be their better options for final stop, because they will only require 2 aircrafts for it and KUL-CGK is a profitable route, although SIN-CGK is more lucrative since it is the “LHR-JFK” route of SE Asia with more or less 40 daily flights or use BKK as their stopover than KUL as their last stop.

[AndyInSweden]

I don’t see BA returning to KUL or open direct services to DPS. From my understanding front end demand is limited between LON-KUL and LON-DPS and BA is very dependent on front end traffic.

BA seem to have a an agreement with SQ on SIN-DPS and with MH on SIN-KUL as BA offers through fares (on same ticket) With these agreements in place I think the chance is even smaller that they will start own services.

[PsyDtoBe]

hey AndreasVessman,

I agree with you, my point is if BA about to return to KUL, i would think it will not stop there, perhaps they will use it as a transit point between KUL and the southern atmosphere, Indonesia most probably, hence i mention Jakarta and Denpasar.

[Binman62]

AndreasVessman…..I fly to DPS regularly and in First.Ii am not aware of any deals bA has with SQ on the sIN DPS leg. The fares are in all classes are very high and you cannot book LHR DPS on BA.com only via the call centees and this despite a code share with CX over HKG. I use jet star or KLM now between SIN and DPS but if you can point me to the interline fares you mention I will certainly follow up.

Also not sre about Jakarta SIn being the New York route in Asia. There is ceratinly a lot of flight but fares on anyone other than the national carriers of SIN and Indonesia are extraordinary good value in any class.

[Author]

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