A380 soon to fly into London Heathrow

Heathrow airport have commenced developments to accommodate the A380. Terminal 3 will see a pier be demolished to allow space for the plane's wingspan.

The new development will be 280m long and 3 storeys high. Passengers will be able to disembark from both levels of the aircraft.

Managing Director of BAA said that preparations are going well: "The A380 will be an important aircraft for Heathrow... but we are also ensuring that our new facilities can accommodate all types of aircraft and meet the needs of all our airlines," he said.

A new pier will see 4 new aircraft stands designed to serve new models of aircraft such as the Airbus A320.

Airlines planning to operate the A380 to Heathrow include Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Qantas.

Touch Down at KLIA - 01/02/2008

Leaving a rainy Heathrow, destination Kuala Lumpur!

Leaving a rainy Heathrow, destination Kuala Lumpur!

Malaysia Airlines MH004 - We need the toilet!!

Well I've never experienced a flight like it. An hour after take off from KLIA the captain suddenly spoke through the speaker into the cabin.

"Ladies & gentleman we have a problem in the cabin which I need your full attention about."

My first response "Oh my god the plane's gonna go down!!." The captain then went on to say that 7 of the 14 toilets onboard the aircraft weren't working, or rather the flush had packed up! So we had 2 options, to either divert back to KLIA which will take an hour, or proceed onto London with the use of only 7 toilets.

Everybody in the cabin then had to vote, proceed or turn back. The result - an overwhelming 'carry on to London'. And so the flight continued as normal.

After many hours of watching films and playing Solitaire we were flying over Europe. Again another announcement from the captain,

"Ladies and gentleman, the toilet situation has just worsened, all toilets are now not functioning. Again 2 options, carry on to London which will take 1.5hrs or divert to Frankfurt taking 30mins. Please vote now."

Again another overwhemling decision to carry on the extra mile straight to London!!

After another very long hour and a half and many crossed legs, the flight finally landed at Heathrow and many anxious passengers disembarked from the aircraft!!.

There's a first time for everything!!

Boeing 747 - Majestic!

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 747 steep turn landing at Hong Kong

Malaysia Airlines close to buying up to 8 superjumbos

Airbus are looking at a record year for aircraft orders as they are currently in talks with Malaysia Airlines to sell more A380 jets to them.

MAS, Malaysia's biggest carrier are near to confirming 6 A380s with the possibility of an extra 2 within months. However with Airbus looking more towards making profit on the superjumbos in the Far East, MAS may still struggle to fill the aircraft if air travel numbers decrease.

``The purchase of A380s is quite risky,'' said Hanafi, who has an ``outperform'' rating on Malaysian Air shares at Alliance Research Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur. ``You do need a few A380s, but to expand to a larger fleet, Malaysian Air would be better off buying Boeings'' because it has predominately Boeing Co. fleet.

Malaysia Air despite being on target to exceed 500 million ringgit for next year are still behind Singapore Airlines with regards ordering more aircraft. If they do complete an agreement with Airbus they'll be able to introduce more routes.

The delivery of the A380 scheduled for 2009 could be delayed even longer than that.

``We are working with them on when they would like to have the first one delivered,'' Leahy said.

A compensation settlement won't be seeked until other airlines have completed their negotiations and the Malaysia Air will take a 'pointer' from that.

Malaysia Airlines to introduce more routes to China

Malaysia Airlines is currently reviewing its flight destinations with the intent of introducing more routes to various places in China.

MAS currently fly to six places in China: Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Xiamen, but now plans are in full swing to reintroduce four weekly flights to Macau adding to the already existent 63 flights to China.

Managing Director Datuk Seri Idris Jala said: “It is never easy to just fly into any destination but a thorough study must be carried out first like what we did in Macau.

“Another integral part is to ensure we have proper logistics to support our business expansion,” he said, adding that MAS had ordered 20 new aircraft to cater to its subsidiaries, Firefly and MasWings.

MAS are at present trying to boost their position as one of Asia's premier airlines.

The next targeted destination will be India, MAS already flies to Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore & Hyderabad and already has a code share with Air India.

In China they code share with Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong-Kuala Lumpur/Hong Kong-Penang) and Dragon Air (Hong Kong-Kota Kinabalu).

Malaysia Airlines to buy more aircraft

MAS are to buy at least 10 ATR72-500 turboprop aircraft.

The aircraft are intended for MAS unit Firefly which serves rural Malaysia.

The price of the aircraft are 18.3 million US dollars.

Korean Air come top with Malaysia & Singapore Airlines close behind

The World Airline Awards have been taking place with many categories that airlines can win. For the world’s Best Economy Class the winner has been announced as Korean Air. They have also been recognised as one of the five top airlines with Best In-flight Entertainment.

All the seats are fully equipped with a monitor and the seats have more space in-between them for more comfort.

Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines were runners up coming second and third.

These awards are very well recognised across the world that take into account passenger opinions.

Malaysia Airlines wins award for best cabin staff.

Malaysia Airlines has won an award for ‘World’s best cabin staff’ at the World Airlines Award 2007.

The airline has been recognised for its excellent passenger support service resulting in the top position of the 11 month survey.

Chief Executive of MAS Datuk Idris Jala said he feels incredibly proud of the crew for their portrayal of the best Malaysian hospitality.

The survey also concentrated on the “soft service” of attendants such as friendliness, enthusiasm, sincerity and efficiency.

The survey data involved 3 million people who each represented a different nationality and nominated their chosen carriers based on personal experiences flying with them.

Touch Down in KL, Malaysia.

March 31st 2007

Airbus A380 still being added to Malaysia Airlines fleet

The Airbus A380, which is currently running almost two years behind schedule, is still being sought after by Malaysia Airlines despite reports that the new Jumbo was no longer needed.

MAS said they were "still in discussions with Airbus on the various options available". And then later said "These planes are really expensive. So there is no point wasting taxpayers' money if it no longer fits into MAS's overall plans".

The new jets were supposed to be delivered this year but now the earliest delivery won’t be until 2009.

Go Mas Airlines!

Off to Malaysia at the end of the month with Malaysia Airlines.
Just getting into the mood!