SQ Quits Penang! MI to Take Over all Flights.

[BigTop]

Nah I doubt SQ will step into the SIN-PEN-SIN business for CNY. A little too late cause I don't think they can call in some crew last minute

[MAN Flyer]

If they wanted to put SQ 777's on for a few flights over CNY it would be very quick and easy for them to do so.

[ycp81]

I doubt it would happen as MI is increasing flights to PEN over the CNY period.

[BigTop]

Am waitlisted on PEN-SIN with MI on 17th Feb. So worried I can't get a seat , so should I grab a ticket on MH or AK just in case? Sorry if this is a bit OT

[Fisk]

Am waitlisted on PEN-SIN with MI on 17th Feb. So worried I can't get a seat , so should I grab a ticket on MH or AK just in case? Sorry if this is a bit OT

The Flight MH9025 (Codeshare from Silkair 355) 18:05-19:30 has free seats in all Classes, but only on the MH contingent

The Flight MH9027 (Codeshare from Silkair 357) 21:15-22:40 has free seats in Economy Q and L, but also only on the MH contingent.

All other flights are sold out....

[LionCity]

Am waitlisted on PEN-SIN with MI on 17th Feb. So worried I can't get a seat , so should I grab a ticket on MH or AK just in case? Sorry if this is a bit OT

You might want to find out either from Singapore Airlines how bad is the queue.

[B727]

wow, sounds like a lot of oldies going to Penang!

I think it was one big tour group judging by the name stickers they were wearing.

Saw some Irish passports and heard some Dutch spoken, though not necessarily from the same group of senior travelers.

[davinpa]

SQ will not give up all its own flights to MI for JKT in near future - but it draws parallel from KUL - as before the invasion of the LCCs, SQ was flying 7 times with its 772s to KUL daily with good loads as mostly would comprise of a fairly large number of business travellers as KUL is a business destination. (and similiarly MH was also flying up to 6 or 7 flights daily with a mix of A330 m 734) But once the LCCs began to fly very regularly up to 15 times daily as it is now - SQ was forced to give up 3 to 4 of its flights (depending on the days)to MI. At present JKT do not have that kind of heavy frequency by LCCs - but once it does, SQ will inevitably have to give up some of its own flights.

Personally, I cannot believe this happening at all.
1. Unlike SQ and MH in KUL route, SQ and GA do not codeshare (just fYI).
2. Things are indeed going crazy. In one end of the spectrum there is 6x/day Air Asia, 4x Valuair(Jetstar), 4x lion air, once or twice sriwijaya, and i don't know, there may be others. On the other end of the spectrum, there is: 7x/day SQ, 7x/day GA, and once a day LH(tag on from FRA). QR is gone. I see however, that in Jakarta, the market itself has been divided into two big segments. One takes the LCCs and the other takes the full service. So in Jakarta, Air Asia doesn't really eat up SQ's revenue until the recession when the very segments change in proportion. Once this stabilize, there's mostly only GA to worry about for SQ. CGK actually has an under-explored demand for first class. Most passengers flying F for CGK-SIN route on SQ are actually Indonesians. I heard that KE's first class also get a good demand from Indonesians and Koreans alike.
3. SQ is so big in CGK. In fact it is the only foreign airline with a permanent check in counter in CGK. SQ is also the only foreign airline in CGK to operate its own lounge(disguised under the name of Esplanade Lounge. This lounge for all purposes is the SKL in Jakarta)
4. SQ has quite a big base of fanatics in CGK. There are a lot of people in Jakarta who would rather take CGK-SIN-DPS on SQ to go to Bali rather than taking CGK-DPS on Garuda or anything else. Or at least they'd rather take SQ than anything else overseas(these people might only be willing to take the likes of CX, JL, or QF other than SQ. Not even EK or QR is good enough because these airlines carry too many maids from Indonesia). There are loads of them and while you cannot really count me in for now, I would rather be in this group if I could once I start making my own money.

[9V-SIA]

Just back from PEN.
My first trip back since MI took the route over from SQ.
Overall impression is good.

There's a drastic cut in J class seats between SIN & PEN, which may explain why it was full in J both ways.
The food is not as good as SQ but we had 2 choices and it was filling.
I like the more relaxed style of service ( If SQ is a black tie party then MI is smart casual! )

At PEN, no more SKL lounge of course. Instead, they give a 15 ringgit voucher to be spent either at Coffee Bean or MacDonalds.
I chose MacDonalds.
I ordered a sausage & egg macmuffin and an ice milo.
The girl informed me I still had money to burn.
So I ordered a fillet o fish too.

I was too full to eat on the plane afterwards!

Full flights both ways.

PEN seems to be buzzing.
China Southern and an Indonesian LCC ( can't remember name but old 737 ) were there as well as Jetstar and Air Asia.

[SilverChris]

[...]China Southern and an Indonesian LCC ( can't remember name but old 737 ) were there as well as Jetstar and Air Asia.

Does China Southern fly to PEN? I thought it was China Airlines

[9V-SIA]

Does China Southern fly to PEN? I thought it was China Airlines

Yes they do. In addition to China Airlines. PEN is buzzing!

And Sriwijaya Air is the Indonesian LCC I saw..

I flew MI 354/353, morning flights.

[SilverChris]

IIRC ever since SQ quit MI only has about 4 counters? On really full flights that queue can be really long.

[Kyo]

PEN seems to be buzzing.
China Southern and an Indonesian LCC ( can't remember name but old 737 ) were there as well as Jetstar and Air Asia.

There's also TG

(they get to use the MH Golden Club)

[9V-SIA]

There's also TG

(they get to use the MH Golden Club)

Actually the MI flight I was on was code share with MH and SQ.

If I bought MH J ticket on this flight, can I use the MH Golden Club?

I was told "No!"

But it was great to see so many a/c on the tarmac at PEN.

More than I've ever seen before, mostly narrow bodied but including Korean Air 744 Cargo.

[Kyo]

I think they are getting confused. Of course MH J should be able to use their own Golden Club (probably they thought you said MI)