As a matter of fact, i completed 3 Air France flights just less than a month ago and i was in awe. No joke!

I've been told and read many stories about obnoxious French but the moment i decided to buy the Air France ticket, i was prepared to face the worst such as rude cabin crew. But i was wrong, so wrong. Air France did not let me down in all 3 different flights i took. Cabin crews were sporting and friendly. Generous food portions served in a big tray. I was actually very surprised (in a good way).

I have never taken Korean Air, so i'm not really in a position to comment anything but when was the last time you flew Korean Air ? I follow everything civil aviation religiously and Korean Air finished their major cabin refurbishment on all widebodied aircraft two years ago and even their oldest Airbus A330-300 now feature Audio-Video on Demand System in all seats. I wouldn't call any of this dated. And you know what is dated ? MAS Boeing B777-200ER cabin is. The Economy Class seat is the exact same seat they had when they took delivery of the aircraft back in the 90s. MAS upgraded the entertainment system to the Matsushita 3000i AVOD system in 2005 and that was it. No more upgrade or refurbishment have been done since.

And i'll give you one very good reason why you shouldn't compare MAS with these two airlines you mentioned (Air France and Korean Air). According to SkyTrash, both Air France and Korean Air are not 5-star carrier but MAS is. Besides MAS, the following airlines are also rated 5-star by SkyTrash:
- Singapore Airlines
- All Nippon Airways
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Asiana Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- Hainan Airlines

Of all the 5-star airlines listed above (according to SkyTrash's standard), i have only taken SIA, Cathay Pacific and Asiana Airlines in the past one year and i did not find MAS cabin crew to be better or particularly outstanding. As a matter of fact, i even find Asiana Airlines' cabin crew to be far more polite and friendlier than MAS (i flew Asiana Airlines 6 times already in the past 1 year).

I am not saying MAS cabin crews are not good. They are good actually but after you've tried out many other different airlines, you will find MAS cabin crews aren't really that special after all. They are good but not outstanding! And from my own experience, MAS Japanese crews are the best and there usually are many grumpy MAS cabin crews working on domestic and Southeast Asia flights.

And just so we are clear, the very reason i think MAS is not the second best airline in the world is because of the very cramped Economy Class on their leased Boeing B737-800 and also the brand new Boeing 737-800 with Audio-Video on Demand System on every seat.

Did you guys know that even the Economy Class seats of Malindoair are more comfortable than MAS' B737-800 because the seat has more legroom ? And this is a 5-star airline but its Economy Class seat on the B737 are tighter than a hybrid low-cost carrier ? What a joke!

Another thing that MAS is very weak at is the food. Very small and horrible presentation! Not even in the same league as SIA or Cathay Pacific. One very good comparison is the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route between Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways.

MAS (KL-Bangkok)


Thai Airways (Bangkok-KL)



MAS has such incompetent management. This was truly an airline that Malaysian can be proud of pre-Mr.019 but now... [speechless].

I think MAS is in this circle, a circle where MAS is stuck in and it will always circling inside and Malaysian will see it make some decent net profit before we see its financial records being splashed with all red figures again.


I personally do not like Air Asia. So for domestic flight, i tend to stick to MAS and now i have one more choice which is Malindoair. For international flight, i try my best to stick to Dragonair/Cathay Pacific and Silkair/Singapore Airlines.


Fundamentally this is a very weak company. But then, this is the stock exchange we are talking about I am not trying to suggest anything but you see people investing in penny stock counter all the time. And MAS is kind of one of a kind penny stock counter. At least this MAS has the backing of you, me and all Malaysian taxpayers

i'll fly on cathay, asiania and thai airways in this one week on business seats.. we'll see.

This post has been edited by EddyHyip: Jun 8 2013, 09:41 PM

MAS to add more fuel-efficient A380 superjumbos to assist its turnaround

Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) plans to add more Airbus SAS superjumbos to its fleet as modern, fuel-efficient aircraft will assist a turnaround from two consecutive years of losses.

The flag carrier, which has six A380s, may order “a few more” double-decker planes, group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. MAS would arrive at a decision by the year-end, he said.

Jauhari needs new aircraft to cut fuel expenses, the airline's biggest cost at 37%, end losses and take on competition from Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA), which also boosted its A380 orders last year.

Airbus got nine orders for the superjumbo last year against a target of 30. In January, the planemaker said it aimed to win 25 A380 sales this year.

“The A380s have been successful with passenger load factor of above 80%, sometimes even full load,” Jauhari said. “We have been flying the A380s aggressively, 17 hours a day.”

Khazanah Looking At 3-5 Years Timeframe For MAS' Turnaround, Says Azman

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) -- Khazanah Nasional is looking at a timeframe of three to five years for the turnaround of loss-making Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Managing Director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said Friday.

He said the national carrier was not out of the woods yet "though things are moving in the right direction."

"MAS remains as one of the major companies in our stable, which we need to solve," he told a media conference at Invest Malaysia 2013 conference.

Azman said Khazanah would continue to play the role of a supportive shareholder in MAS.

-- BERNAMA

Meaning time to sell now? Maybe can consider picking up again after 2-3 years later...

When AirasiaX listed & Malindo expand their destination, U think MAS can still do better than both of them?

This post has been edited by alantanblog: Jun 15 2013, 09:13 PM

3 to 5 years timeframe ? like that sure die lah.

Personal Experience = Very subjective topic, but prefer SAFETY and Service as my priority.

I took Cathay Flight from San Francisco to HK = good as in business class, but HK to KL
= bad ( air stewardness scold client even the client is in business class).
Took Air Asia from KL to Kuala Trengganu and LCCT - Langkawi = ordinary(stewardness not cheerful)
Took MAS from KL to Penang, KL to Shanghai = slight better than ordinary in term of safety and service.
FYI, Air Asia and MAS were more conformtable and better in term of Safety and Service if u compared
USA's local United Airlines.. IMO, MAS is still slightly above average league (5-Star).. Very personal subjective experience.

With MAS 30 cents in stock price, is it a good value stock to invest? Will MAS survive in airline industry.

MAS have to survive .. no choice... MAS bring in 6 Bill foreign Exchange direct and another 6 Bill indirect. Helping the Export industry also.
If MAS is to wind down MR will dropped. Just my view...

closed at RM0.295....Those who got right issue at rm0.03+rm0.23=rm0.26 will still gain

Inflight nasi lemak set cost rm100, how the company make money? Too much under table expenses!!

I have heard of this before too. But is there any sites or reports that stated this down? Any hard facts...just curious

From financial aspect terms,

MAS is doing badly,

If you take a look on their latest quarterly report,

Even if the gov help them (loans etc), no chance of surviving,

Reserves = -2.99b, borrowings 10b, sukuk 1.5b >< just no hope

Just for your info...
These figures didn't include the monies they get from the recent Rights issue.
The get more than RM3 Bill from the issue.
The RM1.0 Bill sukuk is a government perpetual sukuk (means they need not pay if they done make profit)_
I think if put these consideration your consideration change a lot.
TQ

Agreed with you, i saw it with my own eyes, Cathay Pacific stewardess scolded an old uncle for taking a pic of cabin halfway flying from HK to London. The "drama" stewardess some more threatened him that she will call a in-flight security if he refuse to delete that pic.

my point of view, gov will definitely try to save MAS by pumping in cash and getting better BOD but just that when is the time..

On another note, felt that Cathay cabin crew "look down" on Malaysian travellers esp when they heard you speaking in broken cantonese . Only way to deal with them (or Hongkies in general) is be fiercer than them. They bully timid but fear fierce ppl.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) may sell Firefly Sdn Bhd shares to the public to raise capital in order to help expand the sixyear-
old subsidiary’s business.

If the initial public offering (IPO) does take place, it will be the first time the national carrier lists a subsidiary.

Over the years, many of the carrier’s plans have outlined the need to list its profitable units to help raise capital and also to better manage it.

The closest it got thus far was the sale of MAS Catering Sdn Bhd to Brahim’s Holdings Bhd and LSG Asia GmbH in 2003.



Brahim’s and LSG paid RM175 million for MAS Catering, besides taking over the company’s accumulated losses. MAS had incurred
losses of about RM200 million from the catering business.

The carrier has more than 30 subsidiaries and associate companies. Its profitable units include Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd and Firefly.

Firefly bled red ink in 2011 due to its shortlived jet operations but returned to the black last year. Prior to 2010, Firefly had been making around RM10 million to RM12 million in
net profit.

The company, which is targeting a revenue of RM350 million this year, currently contributes less than five per cent to MAS’ bottom line.

Analysts said MAS’ plan to list its subsidiaries is more of a balance sheet management exercise.

“If the market views MAS’ move to unlock the value of its subsidiaries as positive, the new listed entity will rally,” said Mercury Securities head of research Edmund Tham.

Firefly chief executive officer Ignatius Ong said the listing is in the scope of the company.

“One of the requirements for listing is to strengthen the company’s position. This is where the new ATR 72-600 aircraft comes in.

We are on an expansion mode,” he said. Last December, MAS ordered 36 ATR 72-600 turboprop planes from French-Italian aircraft maker ATR for RM3 billion. Of those, 20 are for
Firefly and the rest for MASwings.

Firefly received its first ATR 72-600 earlier this week. The rest will be delivered in batches over the next three years.

“We are increasing frequencies in existing markets and identifying new routes,” Ong said on the sidelines of the launch of Firefly’s inaugural ATR 72-600 commercial flight to Johor’s
Senai International Airport from Subang Skypark yesterday.

Firefly also operates 12 ATR 72-500s and flies to more than 25 destinations within Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore and Sumatra.


Read more: MAS to float Firefly? http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM...l#ixzz2YtdvvMs1

Good time to buy MAS as it is super low price. Have you ever see a GLC bankcrupt? Not Perwaja, not Proton, etc. Sure goven bump money in annd the share shall rise again. I will load it if you have extra cash! My two cents

Since when MAS share is a good buy? Too many negative articles.