Malaysian (MAS) has gone into receivership

[burmans]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I can help but thinking that this is just the tool required for the CEO and banks to do what we always knew they had to do. Some routes were always going to have to be dropped as they werent profitable, and this would necessarily entail some loss of staff and sales of aircraft.

So unlike some here I dont particularly see this as "bad news", indeed if these are really things MH need to do the sooner they do it the better and this seems to be the way to achieve it, it may eventually be their best chance to get through this with a viable functioning airline.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I can help but thinking that this is just the tool required for the CEO and banks to do what we always knew they had to do. Some routes were always going to have to be dropped as they werent profitable, and this would necessarily entail some loss of staff and sales of aircraft.

So unlike some here I dont particularly see this as "bad news", indeed if these are really things MH need to do the sooner they do it the better and this seems to be the way to achieve it, it may eventually be their best chance to get through this with a viable functioning airline.

It's bad news for the affected cabin crew and ground crew. A lot will lose their jobs, and may or may not be able to find employment elsewhere.

A viable functioning airline when you've alienated one billion customers in China? I guess that remains to be seen.

How much of the Australian market will be left without through traffic to Europe? We fly Singapore Airlines and Cathay via their hubs to Asia because they have frequency of service, modern seating, good soft-product, great hubs, and outstanding IFE. MH only offers maybe one (at a stretch two?) of those. Not enough, IMO, to warrant flying via KL, unless fares were rock bottom. And if the latter, how long will they remain viable?

 

[Buzzard]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

Hopefully when all this is over we end up with a great airline.

 

[dajop]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

should I book to Europe 'with confidence' given they will likely axe those routes? can I book regional business class 'with confidence' knowing my flat bed on a 772 or a380 will likely be replaced by a 737 or a330 with inferior product?

If many of your safety concerns about MH were a guide, you were never going to book MH anyway And if you were it certainly wouldn't have been 'with confidence'.

On FT there was some discussion about what happened to pax when MH terminated their NRT-LAX service, and anecdotal evidence points to re-accommodation on other carriers (and not just the JL flight that MH codeshares on to LAX). I'd be more worried if I had a partner award booking (which can strike road bumps when services are cancelled) than on a cash fare.

 

[docjames]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

Not the CEO Fault that some mad wankers blew up their plane or another crashed. Someone had to guide it through restructure

Remember this CEO was actually employed a couple of months ago to do just this.

Only 1 person not fired, CEO Christopher Mueller.

As pointed out by smeacs, the CEO was recently hired to cough the entire situation and come up with a recovery plan. MH have been burning $$ for years, they now have impetus for urgent change.

Terrible for the staff on an individual level, but MH cannot continue to burn dollars.


In the short term, as MEL_Traveller points out, until they've clarified what route cuts / changes there are, it will be hard to "book with confidence" which will exacerbate their problems.

 

[NM]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I suspect that QF will not be interested in purchasing the MH A380s following their experience with the maintenance issues of an ex-MH 744s they acquired in the late 1990s. While that particular issue was hopefully isolated, I expect there are some long memories around the traps.

 

[docjames]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I suspect that QF will not be interested in purchasing the MH A380s following their experience with the maintenance issues of an ex-MH 744s they acquired in the late 1990s. While that particular issue was hopefully isolated, I expect there are some long memories around the traps.

On top of the fact they have options on new ones, plus sub-optimal deployments for them.

It'd have to be a killer deal to make sense for QF to purchase them.

Rumour has been TK considering purchase or lease, again coming down to price.

 

[NM]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

Rumour has been TK considering purchase or lease, again coming down to price.

And a thorough inspection, I expect

 

[burmans]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

A viable functioning airline when you've alienated one billion customers in China? I guess that remains to be seen.

I'm not denying that in general it's "bad news" for MH and the staff. I'm denying that this particular announcement was bad news, everyone with half a brain surely knew that something had to happen sometime. And in my view the only way to fix a problem is to try to fix it, as opposed to doing nothing and eventually everything falling apart. If theyd done nothing they'd eventually reach a state where the airline is not viable and there are no jobs, surely some jobs are better than none.

A viable functioning airline when you've alienated one billion customers in China? I guess that remains to be seen.

Yep, that's my point, this statement (true though it is) is not "new" news.

 

[dajop]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I'm not denying that in general it's "bad news" for MH and the staff. I'm denying that this particular announcement was bad news, everyone with half a brain surely knew that something had to happen sometime.

Anecdotal reports suggest MH staff have been demotivated for some time now. Understandably given the cloud of uncertainty and constant rumours about big staff cuts. This announcement at least will bring some certainty in the next month or two that may ultimately lead to a group of "survivors" where motivation slowly starts to improve instead of continuing to get worse.

 

[Mattg]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I was planning to book a few of MH flights for travel at the beginning of next year (Australia-KL and a couple of intra-Asia flights). But given this news I'm not sure whether I should bother. I like MH and the service it currently provides, but I don't want to book a flight now if (a) it won't end up operating, (b) the schedule gets changed multiple times between now and the departure date, (c) the flight ends up running but by then MH is a low-cost airline with inferior service or (d) MH has left oneworld by then.

Does anyone know what the "rebranding" will involve? Will MH be getting a new name, or will the entire airline change from the inside out? Is MH likely to remain in oneworld?

Too many unanswered questions for my liking.

 

[NM]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I am no expert, and obviously have no inside knowledge, but my best guess is that MH needs to remain a member of OneWorld to retain passenger volumes, and I would expect that any routes they cease operating with their own aircraft are likely to retained as code-shares with other carriers.

I wonder if QF would be interested in some Australia to KL services under an agreement where MH relinquishes their own capacity and sells the route as a QF-operated code-share?

Then again, I may be dreaming ...

 

[Mattg]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I am no expert, and obviously have no inside knowledge, but my best guess is that MH needs to remain a member of OneWorld to retain passenger volumes, and I would expect that any routes they cease operating with their own aircraft are likely to retained as code-shares with other carriers.

I wonder if QF would be interested in some Australia to KL services under an agreement where MH relinquishes their own capacity and sells the route as a QF-operated code-share?

Then again, I may be dreaming ...

That is one outcome I would be happy with!

So, I guess I should just take the CEO's word for it when he says we can book with "confidence"?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

So, I guess I should just take the CEO's word for it when he says we can book with "confidence"?

Depends on your appetite for risk. I think you summed up the risks in your post above... who knows what will happen to schedule or frequency once through traffic to Europe is no longer there.

 

[medhead]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

My more immediate problem is having kicked in $600 on JQ flights yesterday that are supposed to connected to MH flights in September. The time frame is right on the cusp of when big changes might happen.

By comparison my June MH flights are too close to be a major concern.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

medhead, perhaps I am being naive, but with Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund (read government) involved in the restructure, is not protecting the reputation of Malaysia so much a part of the changes that you have a very good change of being switched to other carrier(s) at MH's expense if the flights on which you are booked are subsequently cancelled by the new German Managing Director of the new company?

 

[medhead]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

medhead, perhaps I am being naive, but with Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund (read government) involved in the restructure, is not protecting the reputation of Malaysia so much a part of the changes that you have a very good change of being switched to other carrier(s) at MH's expense if the flights on which you are booked are subsequently cancelled by the new German Managing Director of the new company?

I agree there is not much risk getting alternative travel. Just that I might have made a different arrangement, travel in August or even travelled to Japan instead.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

medhead, perhaps I am being naive, but with Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund (read government) involved in the restructure, is not protecting the reputation of Malaysia so much a part of the changes that you have a very good change of being switched to other carrier(s) at MH's expense if the flights on which you are booked are subsequently cancelled by the new German Managing Director of the new company?

Errrr.... I'm not sure i share your confidence.

What is more likely to happen is the consolidation/downsizing of flights. So you may be delayed 4, 6, 8, 24 hours (or whatever) as a result of a schedule change. In that case you're unlikely to get much by the way of compensation, nor be switched to a different airline.

The problem is by the time you are notified of schedule changes the competitive fares on other carriers may be long gone.

 

[Mattg]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

The problem is by the time you are notified of schedule changes the competitive fares on other carriers may be long gone.

This is potentially the most annoying part of it.

It's a bit like what Jetstar did to me a few weeks ago. They cancelled my Monday morning flight with a day's notice and said I could fly on Sunday afternoon, Monday afternoon or get a refund. None of the new flight times were suitable, but what good was a refund? I'd paid $45 or so for the flight, but buying a new flight on another airline at a moment's notice would have cost $200 or so.

 

[Isochronous]

Re: Breaking: MH files for Administration

I've actually found MH service really good when I've flown them in the last 1.5 years. Hope they emerge a sustainable airline after this.