Malaysia Airlines to fly Airbus A350 to Tokyo, but not Auckland
By David Flynn, December 11 2017
Malaysia Airlines will fly its new Airbus A350 jets to Tokyo from May 2018, but says that a timetable listing showing that Auckland would also get the A350s is incorrect.
"We will not be operating the A350 to Auckland" a spokesman for Malaysia Airlines tells Australian Business Traveller. "This is an error that will be corrected."
The Auckland schedule was initially published by the AirlineRoute website, which listed A350 flights to the NZ city from August 5, 2018.
However, an Airbus A350 service between Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo/Narita (MH88/MH89) will commence from May 5, 2018 as an upgrade from the current Airbus A330s, with flights now bookable – including the A350's new first class suites.
Malaysia Airlines will roster its first four A350s onto the Kuala Lumpur-London route in two tranches in the first half of 2018 – from January 15 and March 5 – as replacements for its Airbus A380 superjumbos, which have proven to have too many seats and drink too much fuel for the flagship route compared to the more modest and fuel-efficient twin-engine Airbus A350s.
The airline's A350 jets feature four first class suites at the very front row, followed by 35 business class seats using the same Thompson Vantage design as the Oneworld member's Airbus A330s – including four 'throne' seats which are ideal for solo flyers.
Malaysia Airlines' business class 'throne' seat
Also read: Here are the business class 'thrones' on Malaysia Airlines' Airbus A350
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.
American Airlines - AAdvantage
13 Jul 2015
Total posts 276
I thought it was kind of strange they were putting this to Auckland, when Sydney or Melbourne were more premium routes for MH. Would still like to see them explore another route in Europe though!
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 619
@jubbing:
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2561
Auckland's been previously cited by Malaysia Airlines as a potential A350 route but always very much a 'second choice', as were similar Asia-Pacific routes, compared to the ideal of a second European destination
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 May 2016
Total posts 33
Interestingly, they routed A350 to fly to Tokyo. Not too sure it's a strategic move when most A350 from other competing airlines (OneWorld) and Start Allicances (SQ and TG) are all flying A350 to Melbourne.
13 Sep 2016
Total posts 174
So you have inside knowledge of MH's route analysis, revenue and growth projections on Tokyo on which to base your 'strategic' analysis just because a few other airlines fly A350s into Melbourne?
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 619
@henry_168:
29 Mar 2014
Total posts 78
I don't think we can use SQ as a point of comparison. They have 67 A350s on order or in fleet; Malaysia has just six. For the same reason we can't really use EK to compare either when comparing A380 flights because they have 140 of the dang things.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
17 Aug 2017
Total posts 22
I think Auckland is getting the A330-200 (ex Air Berlin) at some point.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 619
@Luke49:
29 Mar 2014
Total posts 78
I don't believe they will refit the seats, just changing the covers. The existing configuration is already pretty decent fit for MH IMO, 19J/271Y vs 27J/263Y on the 333s, with a superior J to boot. The more Y seats on the 332 is going to be slightly strange, but not strange enough to prompt a refit i think.
British Airways - Executive Club
07 Sep 2012
Total posts 47
But it seems that the flight will not have F class. Inventory shows up to J class and seat maps show row 1 - for F class - to be completely blocked off.
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