Malaysia Airlines posts lower losses than year before

Malaysia Airlines saw a challenging 2018 and finished the year on a marginally lower loss compared to a year ago, impacted by several factors including the crew shortages in the second half of 2018. The year also saw intense competition, with supply outstripping demand, as well as volatility in fuel and forex which also affected profitability.

Notwithstanding the challenging operating environment, encouraging improvements were seen in 2018 as compared to the previous year. Revenue Average Seat per Kilometer (RASK) saw a marginal increase of 2.0% year-on-year on the back of improved pricing segmentation. In the same year, total revenue registered a 1% rise over last year’s performance whilst the overall load factor was sustained at 78%.

The airline’s focus on customer experience, with the formation of the new Customer Experience division, saw good gains with the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), up 4% YoY. The airline’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) also increased by a significant 22 points in 2018 with all customer touchpoints scoring better from the previous year.

Amal Takes to the Skies - Amal to Serve Hajj and Umrah Pilgrims in Southeast Asia

Photo Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines today officially launched Amal (formerly known as Project Hope), a pilgrim-centric service dedicated for Hajj and Umrah, with the unveiling of its official name and logo.

Amal by Malaysia Airlines commenced its first service in October 2018 and operates up to three daily flights to Jeddah and Madinah on the A380-800 aircraft.

The event which was held at its Engineering Complex, was graced by Malaysia’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Yang Berhormat Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and attended by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, His Excellency Mahmud Hussein Saeed Al Qattan, Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) Board members as well as its senior management team. Also in attendance were Malaysia Aviation Group Chief Executive Officer, Captain Izham Ismail and Chief Executive Officer of Amal, Hazman Hilmi Sallahudin.

Malaysia Airlines Reinstates Flights to Kochi

Malaysia Airlines today announced its return to Kochi with its inaugural flight on 31 March 2019.

The airline will be flying daily Kochi via MH108, serviced by the B737-800, which will depart Kuala Lumpur at 10.40pm and arrive Kochi at 12.01am the following day. The return flight, MH109 will depart Kochi at 1am and will arrive Kuala Lumpur at 7.50am the same day.

Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer, Captain Izham Ismail said, “Due to increasing demand, we are happy to announce our return on the daily Kuala Lumpur-Kochi route. India has always been an important market and therefore, reinstating Kochi makes business sense. We also have recently increased capacity on the Kuala Lumpur-Mumbai route by swapping one of the B737-800 aircraft to the widebody A330-300 as this shows our commitment to the India market.”

Malaysia Airlines will be having a special promotion in conjunction with its inaugural flight, for travel from 31 March 2019 until 31 August 2019. From now until 20 January 2019, customers can look forward to fly from as low as RM299 all-in return on Economy Class to Kochi and from as low as RM899 all-in return on Business Class.

These special fares include 30kg baggage allowance on Economy Class or 40kg baggage allowance on Business class, complimentary meals and inflight entertainment.     -- -

(Images Malaysian Airlines)

Wreckage did 'most likely' come from MH370

Photo  AFP

According to officials, small items of wreckage located on a beach in Madagascar last year are most likely to have come from the doomed Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The debris had been handed over to Anthony Loke, the Malaysian Transport Minister at the end of November last year by a beaching combing amateur hunter, Blaine Gibson along with relatives of a few of the passengers on the aircraft when it disappeared.

According to an official Malaysian report from the MH370 Safety Investigation Team, the 5 items had come from an aircraft and a section of the floor had come from a Boeing 777, which was 'most likely MH370.'

The small section of floor has part of a white label on it which bears half of a serial number WPPS61, which researchers have found would match that found on a Boeing 777 aircraft. Where the bulk of the wreckage of the aircraft is, still remains a mystery, with many people believing it was just outside the official search area. 

MH370 message logs were modified claims new investigators.

It is being reported this week that independent investigators looking into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that was operating flight MH370 in March 2014, says parts of the report and data logs have been modified.

The investigators have said they believe that the official report might have been modified and Malaysia Airlines is withholding information. These investigators are claiming that the message logs released by the airline that were given to the official investigation and contained in the official report are not complete, some have been taken out or in some cases changed. 

The group of independent investigators, lead by Victor Iannello reports he's 'found some anomalies in the message logs that were included in factual information released by Malaysia', as well as the safety report. "It is disappointing that more than four years after MH370's disappearance, we are still asking Malaysia to release withheld data,'" he claimed on a blog last week.

MH370 was flown and crashed by a stowaway............new theory suggests

According to an international aviation 'expert,' the latest theory into the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370 is that it was flown by a stowaway who then crashed the plane.  

Philip Baum editor of Aviation Security International claims that someone evaded all airport security checks, managed to find a secret hiding place on the Boeing 777 and then somehow took over control of the aircraft and crashed it.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing in March 2014 while en route to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. Its disappearance has sparked the biggest marine search for a civil airliner in history and so far officials have drawn a blank in finding it or what happened to it. Indeed the Malaysian investigation team of some 19 or so people failed to find a conclusion The team found no evidence of malfunctions, no malicious or suspicious behaviour from the flight crew, there was no evidence of someone other than the pilots flew the plane, but at the end of their investigation they concluded: “The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370.”

Poor preflight checks caused Malaysia Airlines flight to depart with covered pitot tubes.

A Malaysian Airlines Airbus A330 departed Brisbane Airport in Australia at 23.18 on the 18th of July this year, yet as the aircraft climbed away from the airport, the crew couldn't tell how fast the aircraft was going.

The flight deck crew were alarmed and declared a 'Pan Pan Pan' alert advising air traffic control that they had an issue. It appeared to them that all the airspeed indicators had failed during the take-off phase of the flight. The crew decided to return to Brisbane airport but first jettisoned some fuel to lighten the aircraft to a safe landing weight.

There were 226 passengers on the aircraft, 9M-MTK, who had been hoping to go to Kuala Lumpur as scheduled but were told they were returning to Brisbane. The aircraft made a safe, but heavy fast landing at Brisbane and passengers were able to disembark the aircraft.

Australia jails man over Malaysia Airlines plane bomb threat

Australian authorities have jailed a Sri Lankan man who threatened to detonate a bomb on a Malaysia Airlines flight in May of last year. 

The Airbus A330 was carrying 337 passengers and crew at the time of the incident and they had to endure a very traumatic experience, which continued even after the plane landed as police delayed boarding. 

Manodh Marks, 26, a passenger on flight MH128 heading to Kuala Lumpur from Melbourne, caused the crew to turn back to Melbourne after he tried to access the cockpit to hijack the plane. He was tackled by other passengers who bound his hands with cable ties. However, despite the threats, Marks was later found not to be carrying explosives and was under the influence of drugs. 

The search for MH370 will end next week, but new PM opens the door for another search

Malaysian authorities have announced that the search for missing flight MH370 by private US company will finish next week.

On Wednesday the Malaysian transport minister, Anthony Loke said that the 90-day search deal with Ocean Infinity was due to end in April but had been extended twice until 29th May, following the firm’s request.  “There will be no more extensions. It cannot continue forever. Let’s wait until May 29 and we will then decide how to proceed."

The organisation Voice 370, which represents many of families of those onboard the vanished flight, issued a statement which urged the new government to review all matters related to the jet’s disappearance including “any possible falsification” or elimination of maintenance records and any omission that may have impaired tracking, search, rescue and recovery of the plane.

Loke advised that the new government, which realised power after the 9th May elections, is committed to transparency and will release details for public scrutiny in due time.

MH17 investigation team confirms plane was shot down by Russian BUK missile

It was the Russians!  That's the proclamation from the official investigators looking into to events of the 17th July 2014 that caused the downing of   Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine.

All 298 people on the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 were killed when the aircraft blew apart mid-air on a flight heading to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.   Air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft approximately 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.  It crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

MH370 Was not a murder-suicide by the pilot, Australian investigators say.

Following speculation, reports, a book and a 60 minutes TV show that purported the pilot of MH370, the plane that went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014, had committed a murder-suicide has been rejected by Australian investigators 

They rejected claims that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately brought down by the pilot.  The bureau maintains that the pilot was unconscious during the final moments of the flight which took the lives of 239 people. 

Official searches for the wreckage of MH370 was called off last year after 1,046 days, however, others are continuing to seek the final resting place of the ill-fated aircraft. Official searches would only be resumed if new credible evidence is discovered. 

Investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) have said that the plane was out of control when it plunged into the southern Indian Ocean. On Tuesday the ATSB's search director, Peter Foley defended his bureau's findings against supposition and criticism levelled at it n a book by former Canadian air crash investigator Larry Vance. Foley insisted that investigators had explored all the advice and analysis provided.  "We considered every piece of evidence that we had at the time in an unbiased fashion," Mr Foley told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra, adding that he had read Mr Vance's book.  "We have quite a bit of data to tell us that the aircraft if it was being controlled at the end, it wasn't very successfully being controlled," he added.

Taiwan slowly being erased from the global scene..... how airlines are caving in to China's orders

China is succeeding in obliterating Taiwan from the face of the earth... at least in the terms of airline computer reservation systems.  

Many airlines around the world have crumbled and caved to a demand from the Chinese authorities to refer to Taiwan as part of China in all literature and websites. Nearly twenty of the worlds major airlines have completely removed Taiwan from all their websites and just refer to destinations such as Taipei as in China.

At least 16 other airlines have partly submitted to China's orders and use the phrase Taiwan - China, on their websites and booking engines. 

The sudden change comes after the Civil Aviation Administration of China sent a letter on 26th April to 36 foreign airlines ordering them to explicitly refer to Taiwan as a part of China. There are only a couple of days left for the airlines to either fold and submit to Cina's demands or face business sanctions in China. 

The fact that so many airlines have already crumbled has been seen as a clear victory for China’s President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s aims of forcing foreign companies to conform to their geopolitical vision, even in operations outside of China, even if it differs from what is the general or legal global viewpoint.  

Many critics see this as just the next step in the Chinese nationalistic programme to exert economic power to change political or accepted norm, that in the case of Taiwan could see a complete military takeover. China regularly sends up its fighter jets to buzz the coast of Taiwan or Taiwanese shipping and are seeking to isolate Taiwan both financially and politically. 

MH370 - It was murder says investigator

It was a murder-suicide that caused the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 according to Martin Dolan, the Australian investigator who led the search for the missing aircraft for two years. 

During an Australian 60 Minutes television, he and other investigators asserted that Captain Zaharie Amad Shah orchestrated the crash and did everything he could to ensure it went as planned. They claim the pilot had “deliberately evaded radar” and affected the crash of the aircraft in a drastic murder-suicide, murdering 239 people. 

The Boeing 777 had been flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it seemed to disappear causing a multimillion dollar search, which has, as of yet not succeeded in locating the aircraft or what debris is left of it

Brace for impact - Passengers advised on Malaysian Airlines flight.

With one engine not functioning correctly the 224 passengers of  Malaysian Airlines flight MH122 had a worrying few moments diverted to make an emergency landing at Alice Springs.

Flight MH122 was flying from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, today 18th January when loud noises were heard in the cabin by passengers and crew. The aircraft had departed from Sunday at 1306, with a scheduled arrival time of 1830 and was over Broome at the time the disturbing and unusual sounds started occurring. 

Passengers have told local media or the worrying time they had as the aircraft diverted off its usual flight plan to head to Alice Springs. Sanjeev Pandey, a passenger from Sydney, travelling with two friends heading onward to Mumbai to take part in a marathon said, "There was a loud noise, then the plane started to shake a bit - The loud noise didn't stop for several minutes. It got louder and everyone was scared. All the flight attendants seemed nervous."

Malaysia Airlines Welcomes A350

Malaysia Airlines welcomes its first super economic advanced Airbus A350 today and marked the occasion with a special welcome ceremony as well as updating the delivery flight on its social media feeds.

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Malaysia Airlines Names New CEO

The Board of Directors of Malaysia Aviation Group have announced Captain Izham Ismail as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) designate with immediate effect, taking over the role vacated by Mr Peter Bellew.

Currently, Captain Izhamt is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will take up his new role 1st December 2017 and has been integral to the airline’s massive ongoing turnaround effort. As COO, he was responsible for the operations division, which includes flight and airport operations as well as engineering. He led the restructuring of the engineering division for more efficient and leaner operations and was also responsible for the airline’s fuel savings initiative

Malaysia Watching A330neo's

Malaysia Airlines is watching the testing of the Airbus A330neo due to enter service next year as it evaluates an order for around 30 long-haul aircraft, CEO Peter Bellew said on Friday.

Malaysia Airlines is transforming its operations as it recovers from two tragedies in 2014, when flight MH370 disappeared in what remains a mystery and flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

“We need to work out longer-term which aircraft will replace the A330-300 we have. That’s a choice between (Boeing) 787-9s and the A330neos,” Bellew said on the sidelines of the CAPA Global Summit in London.

“We’ll be watching test flights of A330neos with great interest over the next 6 months,” he said, adding he would also keep a close eye on the performance of the Rolls-Royce engines that power the jet.

Has MH370 Been Found?

Could the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been found at last?  After years of searching, the  Australian authorities believe they have finally found the crash site of the missing jet.

Photo: Byrne Guy/Geoscience Australia

Australia has released satellite images it claims show 12 “probably man-made” objects floating in the sea near the suspected crash site of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. The images were taken two weeks after MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014, these images have been analysed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and enabled their researchers to suggest a new potential location for the impact site, an area of 1930 sq miles just north of the former search zone.

In a report issued this week, the Australian's state the detected objects appeared to be in clusters, rather than being  scattered randomly across the sea.  Researchers have a “high degree of confidence” that their in depth and complex drift models of the items indicated a probable impact site within that area, which is in a section of the Indian Ocean that has not yet been searched.

30% Savings for MH with the A350

The Malaysian national airline hopes to make substantial on its popular, yet difficult London - Kuala Lumpur - London route towards the end of the year when it starts flying the new Airbus A350.

Malaysian Airlines say they expect costs to fall by around 30% when the new jets take to the skies from the end of this year and into the first quarter of 2018. Much of the savings will come from the better fuel economy the A350 has over the double decked A380's which currently fly the route. "The impact on yields will not be as bad, and we will not be as exposed to high operating costs. We expect unit cost to come down by around 30%, as compared to operating the A380," Izham Ismail, Malaysia Airlines CEO explained during a briefing in Singapore.

MH370 Search Ends

In March 2014, the then Malaysian transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, fronted the world's press and told them MH370 had "vanished".

"There is no real precedent for a situation like this," he said.

Almost three years since the Boeing 777 disappeared from aviation radars the biggest mystery in the history of aviation remains unexplained, but the search for answers has been suspended.

Malaysia, China and Australia have jointly decided to end the search for the Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew, six weeks out from the three-year anniversary of its disappearance on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8th 2014.