SQ Quits Penang! MI to Take Over all Flights.

[Kiwi]

I've no complaints about actually flying MI. I find them very nice. Although granted I've havent been on any of their longer flights like KTM or the longer Indian and Chinese destinations. My flights have been to BKI, HKT, CEB and DPS.

It's the inability to earn and burn *A miles that annoy, and the fact that you can't use them on *A RTW tickets, thus making those even less use than they are now anyway with the recent fare hikes.

All we need is for them to lose this bizarre aversion to having a short haul/narrowbody fleet and drag them into SQ to save all the hassle.

Agreed. I've flown MI to KTM and other places. The onboard product is okay. The main thing missing is not being in *A, which surely is a disadvantage. Eg from here to Nepal (which gets lots of kiwi visitors thanks to Sir Ed) the logical way is flying SQ but instead most people fly TG or CX/KA due to the alliance benefits.

[Kiwi]

Isn't becoming part of *A really expensive? Surely for MI it is not worth the cost?

Only expensive because SQ/MI has chosen that particular structure. Other *A airlines manage perfectly well having subsidiaries that are included in *A (eg Air Nelson, Eagle Air and Mount Cook Airlines for Air NZ). There is a thread on FT *A forum (link in the sticky) about subsidiaries being included vs excluded in *A listing all the cases.

[ycp81]

No more SQ flights to PEN effective today. PEN Silver Kris Lounged also officially closed

[First_Flyer]

*sigh*, a sad day indeed. I still remembered the time when they used BigTops on this route during CNY many years ago. . I wonder, does that mean C passengers use the Golden Lounge of MH since SKL has closed?

[MAN Flyer]

I wonder, does that mean C passengers use the Golden Lounge of MH since SKL has closed?

Not if they do the same as BKI. There is a new MH Golden Lounge there but MI C pax just get a voucher to spend at a cafe and QPP/TPP travelling in Y get sod all.

[ycp81]

Gone are also the days when we had "fun" seeing the hassled crew struggling to serve a full B772 load of pax a meal in 50 minutes. I remembered once I was served my meal halfway through descent and it was collected from me after 2 bites of the lor mai kai.

[SQADL333]

Really A Sad Day.What they should have done is kept the flights but gone down to using the A330-300 whenever those were not required for Adelaide,Brisbane,Perth,Kuala Lumpur and Nagoya Services.

Never flown on Silkair so can't comment but imagine this If You are a Royal Orchid Plus.Mileage Plus or Airpoints Member or any of the other non krisflyer Star Alliance frequent flyer programmes these little sectors on MI are worth bugger all.

[SINFJ]

Sad to see the wide body leaving PEN, but leaves me wondering if SQ is only looking towards business traffic to define their operations?

[jjpb3]

Sad to see the wide body leaving PEN, but leaves me wondering if SQ is only looking towards business traffic to define their operations?

I think the profitable airlines do tend to consider the business cabin as the bellwether. But the smart ones also look at what's happening further back.

[flyguy]

seems now that there are some news out that SQ will pull out of SIN-KUL route too - following PEN and uses its subsidiary Silkair to take over completely its SIN-KUL routes. I have mentioned this likely scenario some months back too. Believed the LCCs have a major role to play in this bec of their much lower fares and high frequencies esp for AK which have increased its daily KUL-SIN-KUL to 9 daily flights. Looks like Silkair needs to increase its fleet size and hopefully order its next batch of A320s equipped with PTVs as it will take on more of SQ flights in the region in the near future.

[Bitterroot]

Looks like Silkair needs to increase its fleet size and hopefully order its next batch of A320s equipped with PTVs as it will take on more of SQ flights in the region in the near future.

Well, sho' nuff -- 9V-SLL, the latest (and so far as I know, the last) MI A320-233 on order, has just been delivered: 04 December, TLS -- SIN.

So, now MI has one more frame with which to assume more SQ flying, if that's what both companies decide to do.

[fuu99]

seems now that there are some news out that SQ will pull out of SIN-KUL route too - following PEN and uses its subsidiary Silkair to take over completely its SIN-KUL routes. I have mentioned this likely scenario some months back too. Believed the LCCs have a major role to play in this bec of their much lower fares and high frequencies esp for AK which have increased its daily KUL-SIN-KUL to 9 daily flights. Looks like Silkair needs to increase its fleet size and hopefully order its next batch of A320s equipped with PTVs as it will take on more of SQ flights in the region in the near future.

If this is the case, would anyone think that in the future, MI could possibly get some widebodies, perhaps hand-me-downs from SQ for some of the routes transferred?

[First_Flyer]

I think SQ & MI should lower their saver fares to slightly above the LCCs', while offering premium services like Baggage allowance to stay afloat in the market. MH made the right choice by doing that and their loads for PEN-SIN and KUL-SIN aren't bad at all.

[First_Flyer]

Sad to see the wide body leaving PEN, but leaves me wondering if SQ is only looking towards business traffic to define their operations?

So far the only commercial widebody in PEN is CX A333/B777 to KUL then HKG.

[bobtheplaneguy]

So far the only commercial widebody in PEN is CX A333/B777 to KUL then HKG.

And also TG's A300s and A330s to BKK.