It looks like Malaysia Airlines’ (MAB) reactivated B747-400 will be coming to London after all.
It’s been discussed both on businesstraveller.com and in the forum whether MAB’s B747-400 would really be used to replace some of the A380 services between Kuala Lumpur and London while the latter undergoes maintenance.
Officially MAB says that this B747-400, which bears a retro livery, would be kept as an operational spare to be assigned to destinations on an ad hoc basis as and when required.
So it was widely thought the B747-400 would be utilised as an A380 stand-by for the pilgrim flights to Saudi Arabia.
But I have news for you. Today’s flight display on malaysiaairlines.com shows the retro B747-400 scheduled for operation to London and return on selected dates in May and June.
Business Traveller checked MAB’s inventory and this shows the B747-400 operating daytime flight MH 4. This departs Kuala Lumpur at 0950 and reaches Heathrow at 1635.
The B747-400 returns on the same day to Kuala Lumpur with flight MH 1. This busy overnight service departs at 2145 to reach Kuala Lumpur the following day at 1750.
Business Traveller checked the Kuala Lumpur-London flight schedules over a four to five-week period between mid-May to after mid-June.
MAB’s B747-400 is scheduled to operate to and from London starting on May 16 and then again on May 18, May 20, May 25, May 30, June 1, June 6, June 8, June 13, June 15, June 20 and June 22.
The B747-400 may be used on later dates too. Readers intending to fly MAB must check flights carefully so as not to be disappointed.
It’s important to stress that airline schedules are subject to change even at short notice. Also note that there are some days when MAB will be operating only a single flight to London (this service will be operated by an A380) whilst scheduled [A380] maintenance takes place.
No information is currently available regarding the B747-400’s onboard seating. But MAB’s website displays all three classes (first, business and economy) for its B747-400 flights with roughly similar prices to those on A380 services.
Alex McWhirter
Update: April 21
Note that Malaysia Airlines appears to have postponed the start date of its B747 service from May 16 to June 1. At the time of writing this aircraft will be used on the June dates shown in our news piece but up to and including June 27.
Please bear in mind that aircraft utilisation is subject to change. We recommend passengers reconfirm flight details at the time of travel and shortly before taking the London-Kuala Lumpur (or vice versa) flight in question.
