BA to discuss reinstating KUL service

[KeithMEL]

From the Malaysian media: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story...7&sec=business

Officials of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and British Airways (BA) will meet in a couple of months to continue discussions on BA reinstating flights to Malaysia.

[jhm]

Excellent if it does come about!

A direct connection - without having to pass through SIN (nice though it is) - to some super premium fried rice which I'm still waiting for.

And slightly less important, hopefully better availability for award redemptions to SEA without having to book way in advance.

[MAN Flyer]

It would be nice to see, but I'm not sure this should be taken too seriously to be honest as the 'meeting' took place at the World Route Development Forum where there are dozens of these sort of discussions each day.

I can just see the conversation now:

MAHB 'Excuse me Mr Walsh, any chance you guys will restart a service to KUL ?'

WW 'Well, errm, we don't currently have any plans to do so but I'll get my people to look into it again and we'll be in touch.'

Cue excited MAHB (or Politician probably) rushing off to inform the media that they have managed to persuade BA to come back.

[flyguy]

not sure about esp MAS welcoming BA back to KUL - as then MH will have real direct competition and as MH is struggling to make even a token profit - it will may challenge the case against letting BA in - just like MH have been successful in its lobbhy for malysian govt to prevent LCC to fly KUL-SIN routes. And MH have ordered its A380 planes just mainly for its KUL-LHR/SYD routes.

[quik!]

It would be nice to see, but I'm not sure this should be taken too seriously to be honest as the 'meeting' took place at the World Route Development Forum where there are dozens of these sort of discussions each day.

I can just see the conversation now:

MAHB 'Excuse me Mr Walsh, any chance you guys will restart a service to KUL ?'

WW 'Well, errm, we don't currently have any plans to do so but I'll get my people to look into it again and we'll be in touch.'

Cue excited MAHB (or Politician probably) rushing off to inform the media that they have managed to persuade BA to come back.

Yeap, that pretty much sums it all up.

[singaporu_kooku]

I don't think that BA will come back to KUL anytime soon. There's just not enough O&D traffic to support it, even MH has reduced its LHR frequency from thrice a day to twice a day. KUL also a low yield destination and BA been very conservative about their destinations in Asia compared to LH, KL, or AF.

[sqforever]

Hmmm, I don't think that BA would be able to sustain the same kind of demand as MH.
2x flights a day seems like enough to me. Maybe when BA starts receiving 787s in 2010 then they could use one for a 4-5x weekly service or something.

[KeithMEL]

Just saw this on a.net so read whatever you want into it:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions....main/3706621/

Hi all just attended shadowing day at waterside. Interesting was the new routes BA are doing feasibility studies on at present for start in 2009/2010. They are:

...
LHR-KUL To start with operating via SIN using current BA011/BA012 flight daily. This is due to improvement in Malaysia's economy.

Would be fantastic if true, even more so if they've got 5th freedom rights for SIN-KUL-SIN. TP run anyone?

[nykelaz]

Would be fantastic if true, even more so if they've got 5th freedom rights for SIN-KUL-SIN. TP run anyone?

Awesome, I can predict cheaper prices coming! Anyway, what are the airlines doing the SIN-KUL-SIN run? I can only think of SQ,MH,JL,MK. IIRC, MF used to do that too.

[MAN Flyer]

Is BA11/12 the existing flights to SIN ?. If so I thought that flight was usually rammed and hard work to get on ?, hence the talk of BA putting their A380's on the route. If so, why would they send it on to KUL ?.

It would be a nice alternative from the shuttle depending on timings but I'll believe it whenh I see it. I wouldn't get excited about cheaper prices coming either, this is BA!

[SQflyergirl]

I smell a TP run..... @ 180tp a pop.....

[SQflyergirl]

Awesome, I can predict cheaper prices coming! Anyway, what are the airlines doing the SIN-KUL-SIN run? I can only think of SQ,MH,JL,MK. IIRC, MF used to do that too.

BG/UL/PK too (although I'm not sure who's doing it still)

[KeithMEL]

I wouldn't get excited about cheaper prices coming either, this is BA!

I think people would be more excited about the 180 TPs each way; those who fly with the dark side anyhow. [or approximately 6.7 flights to get Euro Gold!!] But as I read the post a 2nd time I noticed that BAH/DOH/BAH and AUH/MCT/AUH might go - so a net loss... (for want of a better phrase).

I've not heard about KUL from anywhere else. But one thing that came out of galley fm did concur with that a.net post - LAS!

[jhm]

Is BA11/12 the existing flights to SIN ?. If so I thought that flight was usually rammed and hard work to get on ?

Yes, they are. As for limited availability, perhaps I got lucky but I took BA11 to SIN earlier this year and I bought an I-class a few weeks in advance.

[KeithMEL]

BA12 and BA16 for Feb 2008 were both already showing D0 quite a while ago, until I worked out that BA had point of sale (POS) discrimination and I managed to get a seat in D on BA12 by ringing their UK number and access the ex-UK inventory.