MAS axes Airbus A380 for Sydney, Melbourne, boosts London & Paris
By David Flynn, October 5 2012
Malaysia Airlines has cancelled its planned Airbus A380 services to Sydney and Melbourne in favour of boosting superjumbo flights to Europe.
The A380 was set to begin daily Sydney-Kuala Lumpur flights from November 26 this year, with Melbourne tipped to follow from March 1.
Both Australian cities are now off the agenda, with MAS focussing instead on Europe.
A second daily Airbus A380 flight between Kuala Lumpur and London (MH03/04) will commence on November 24, complementing the A380's debut earlier this year on that same route.
MAS will also roll out an A380 on the Kuala Lumpur-Paris route (MH20/21) from March 1 next year.
Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said strong response to the first Kuala Lumpur-London A380 service had sparked the decision to implement a second daily flight.
"Encouraged by the success of our current daily A380 operations on this route, we have decided to replace the existing B747 daily flights, with the A380 to make it a double daily on the superjumbo," Yahya said in a statement.
"The introduction of the latest 5-Star product standards on the A380 was also complemented by Skytrax, United Kingdom, renewing our 5-Star Airline status."
The move throws a spanner into the works for Malaysia Airlines' plans for an "A380 all the way" Kangaroo Route between Sydney and London via Kuala Lumpur.
See what you'll miss in this photo tour of the Malaysia Airlines A380
Get live updates on the latest news for business travellers and frequent flyers: follow @AusBT on Twitter.
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.
17 Oct 2011
Total posts 2
Ouch, that hurts.
07 Oct 2012
Total posts 1
What do you reckon... qantas ties up with MAS to service Asia much like dubai for Europe? Flys A380s to Malaysia and then onwards with MAS?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Jan 2012
Total posts 172
Highly unlikely that QF would launch an A380 service to a port it does not operate too at present.
No A380 for MH into SYD or MEL will mean no boost in profile for the airline in our market.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Jan 2012
Total posts 172
Malaysian seems to downgrading Sydney again. From 1 March the daily B744 drops down to a B772 with no First Class anymore. Then from 7 March, the evening B772 drops down to a A333.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
06 Feb 2012
Total posts 9
MAS wants to compete with SIA?
Yet they don't fly their flagship A380 SYD/MEL - KUL
SIA has multiple A380 departures from SYD to SIN + onward connections to Europe on the A380 (LHR/CDG)
Big step backwards from MAS
Kstalling
Malaysia Airlines - Enrich
09 Oct 2012
Total posts 1
What a disappointed news for a frequent KUL-SYD flyer for me, been waiting for its A380 KUL-SYD route since last year. Well, I can go for SIA from now on, no reason to pay similiar price to MAS while I can enjoy modern aircrafts and better service with SIA.
10 Jun 2011
Total posts 56
It might sound disappointing at the moment, but we dont know what is yet in store for Australia and Asia with MH and QR joining One World. I understand launching the A380 on LHR KUL has been very successful so it makes sense for both the LON flights to go to A380
It is very likely BA and possibly QF will look at adding their own flights to KUL and QR already fly to KUL 3 x daily. EK also serve it 3 x daily once on the A380, so another hub may be created at KUL
By April next year both SYD flights will be on the new A333 which is a reduction in seat numbers but new product minus first class, but will put SYD in line with the same product that BNE MEL and PER receive
We may see a situation with KUL being multi daily flights versus daily A380, similar to what SQ now does to SIN
Malaysia Airlines - Enrich
11 Oct 2012
Total posts 19
I have been looking forward to the Sydney-KL leg for a long time. I was just thinking the current 747's were looking rather aged and it would be great to get the A380's in November. Now MAS pulls this out of the hat.
I tried AirAsia on a previous trip and went back to MAS because I like the service better but if MAS drops its planes down to the A333 just like AirAsia, why would I bother ?
Come on guys, have at least one A380 on the Sydney-KL leg. You don't realize how many of us are waiting!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Nov 2011
Total posts 243
Luckily I didn't pay for the A380 that they were cancelling for my Jan 2013 booking. It was AUD60 more and wasted my money for service that wasn't worth it. B777 is better with 2 seater on the windows than 3 seaters on the window for their B747.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Oct 2012
Total posts 134
Well I have just booked my flights for next year and on my itinerary on my return flight out of kl in mid sept 2013.it shows it an a380? Maybe it's back on ??
29 Feb 2012
Total posts 2
They have cancelled the A380 to Sydney but did not tell people who have already booked and selected seats. I booked BUSINESS class and am just about to travel. I found out by accident. When I rang them they said, " oh yes we have transferred your seat number to the other aircraft" How stupid are they?? There is no relationship between a seat number on an A380 and the seat number another type of aircraft. No way to treat a premium customer. Good bye Malaysia Airlines
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
24 Jan 2013
Total posts 16
I was thoroughly irritated by this very backward move by MAS. I had already booked to fly first class from Sydney to Paris and back from London in June this year. I received an email saying they had 'transferred your booking to business class, and please phone to arrange a refund for the difference in fare'. Obviously they assumed their premium customers would just roll over. Well I walked, and I would imagine a number of others did too. Serves MAS right for downgrading the service.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on MAS axes Airbus A380 for Sydney, Melbourne, boosts London & Paris