MAS to order more A380s: Sydney, Melbourne back on the superjumbo slate?
By David Flynn, June 12 2013
Malaysian Airlines plans to add more Airbus A380s to its fleet, in a move which may see the airline resume plans to fly the superjumbo to Sydney and Melbourne.
MAS now has filled its initial order of six A380s, which list at US$404m each, but is now considering adding "a few more" from Airbus, Bloomberg reports MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya as saying.
While MAS' current superjumbos service London, Paris and Hong Kong, the new aircraft could allow the airline to introduce the A380 to Australia.
MAS previously planned to bring its A380 onto the Sydney-KL route from November last year, with Melbourne slated for March 2013, to provide an 'A380 all the way' experience from Sydney and Melbourne through to London.
However, that plan was axed in October last year, with MAS instead shifting its Sydney-Kuala Lumpur flights to Airbus A330s as the airline moves to retire older Boeing 747 and 777 planes from its fleet in an attempt to reign in fuel costs.
Take a photo tour of the Malaysia Airlines A380
“The A380s have been successful with passenger load factor of above 80 percent, sometimes even full load" Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said, adding that "remaining static means you will be shrinking when the market grows. We have to grow at least in step with the market."
Any new A380 order would allow MAS to opt for one of Airbus' new 'high density' designs which can fit 558 seats spread across a standard three-class configuration of first, business and economy, compared to today’s 490 seats in the same mix.
Read: Airbus supersizes the A380 superjumbo
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Jun 2013
Total posts 28
Strangely enough, I've found that Malaysian have a great Y product compared to many, many carriers, but their J however, can't compete with virtually any of their neighbours. It'l also be nice if they had better OW earn rates too.
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
16 May 2011
Total posts 113
I thought the only reason MH scrapped the planned A380 services for both MEL & SYD was because of bilateral agreements between Australia and Malaysia, D7 got the rest of the remaning rights therefore MH couldn't expand by upgauging x2 of its daily flights to A380 serivces in Australia.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Sep 2012
Total posts 132
Andy, that is spot on. The bilateral has a ceiling on the numbers of seats that MAS can have between Australia and KUL. They are currently at that level. They would either have to dump a flight somewhere to allow at least one A380 into SYD.
eugoose - the new J product on the A380 is actually quite acceptible, however is not a touch on CX, EK or QF, but then the price is often lower than those three. The Skybed II on QF is still leaps ahead of the A380 bed on MH. However the J seat A330 from SYD to KUL is terrible
Quite like their Satay appetizers though!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Oct 2012
Total posts 130
I agree cdinoz. I travel alot with them and unfortunately the seat and service product in J is below standard, but I have found on my flights that crews are pretty good.
As for A380 coming to Aus ? Has this been confirmed? or just "plans"Iwill get more excited when MAS recieve these aircraft. Ive not seen anything on Airbus official website about this.
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