The Young & Restless

Article taken from yesterday’s The Star’s E-Biz section;

MAS can save RM303mil from routes revamp

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) expects to save up to RM303mil for its current financial year from the rationalisation of its international routes under a turnaround plan that will begin from April 1. 

“To build on its strategy to move to a ‘hub-and-spoke’ approach, MAS will withdraw from the current unprofitable routes and reduce frequency on selected routes,” the airline said in a statement yesterday. 

“It will also reconfigure its network through retiming of frequencies to increase direct connectivity between KL International Airport (KLIA) and international destinations.” 

The reduction in losses from the route rationalisation would come via improved loads and increased yields, it said. 

“Cost savings are expected to substantially offset revenue losses incurred by the rationalisation of routes,” it added. 

MAS said the route rationalisation was expected to have minimal impact on Malaysia’s position as a top tourist destination in Asia as the airline would work aggressively with its code-share partners. 

“Through existing arrangements with them, MAS will continue to promote connectivity between Malaysia and key international destinations as well as contribute towards the overall effort by the various authorities to increase tourist arrivals to Malaysia,” it said. 

The rationalisation is expected to have minimal impact on MAS’ cargo operations as the carrier would continue to maintain its key cargo destinations in Britain, Europe, the Orient, Australia, Middle East, South Africa and the United States. 

“The airline will make up for withdrawals of services through interline arrangements as well as increased freighter connectivity when two B747 freighters join the airline’s fleet this month and May 2006 respectively,” it added. 

MAS said flights between Kuala Lumpur and six destinations, namely Ahmedabad and Kolkata in India, Xian in China, Padang in Indonesia together with Manchester and Vienna in Europe as well as flights between Kuching and Pontianak in Indonesia would be discontinued over the next three months. 

Effective April 1, there will be an equipment swap between the A330-300 Kuala Lumpur/Chengdu and A330-200 KL/Kunming twice weekly return services to match passenger demand on these two routes. 

MAS will also reduce frequencies in stages on the Kota Kinabalu/Shanghai, Penang/Singapore, Kuala Lumpur/Sandakan, Kuala Lumpur/Nagoya, Kuala Lumpur/Frankfurt and Kuala Lumpur/Auckland return routes. 

Starting May 15, the airline will realign some of its weekly Kuala Lumpur/Kota Kinabalu/Tokyo, Tokyo/Kota Kinabalu/Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur/Kota Kinabalu/Osaka services to operate direct between KLIA and the Japanese cities. 

“This move is also expected to further improve connectivity between Malaysia Airlines’ international and domestic network,” it added. 

MAS said it would honour all forward bookings ticketed to date on the routes involved in the route rationalisation and will make alternative arrangements at its own cost to minimise discomfort to its customers’ travel plans.

WTF?? Why this year? Gosh man…susah-payah we booked direct flights to Manchester in June and now MAS isn’t passing there anymore..ppftt…what luck? No wonder I got a call from Chung Yen saying our flights to Manchester has been cancelled and requested us to move our reservations to another flight. I thought the MSL had done something wrong of issuing us booked seats instead since I heard one of the staffs mentioned the other day when we’re paying the deposit that seats on the day we booked itself had been completely full.

As of now, I am no longer departing on 4th from Manchester. Instead I have changed my flight connection to Cathay Pacific and will be leaving on the 3th of June instead at 5pm. Will be stopping on the way at Hong Kong first for 3 hours before arriving in London the next day. Sigh..all the hassles through the phone of rebooking our flights. Thank god they called Chung Yen’s friend for if not when are they expecting to inform us this crucial announcement? What if by the time they inform us it’ll be too late to book on another blame and that time, who’s to blame??

Anyway went to clearance warehouse sale today at Old Town…some stocks of reknown sports brands i.e Nike, Adidas, Reebok are on the grab with more than 70% discounts. Mum bought a Puma running shoes, me bought a Reebok outing/sports shoes and my cousin bought a pair of sandals..can’t remember the brand though..and what good luck he had when the cashier struck the barcode wrongly or something as his pair of sandals originally cost RM80 with 30% off but on the receipt, it’s stated RM15 when it’s supposed to be RM56 LOL.

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