At the moment Malaysia Airlines operates their A380s exclusively between Kuala Lumpur and London. The airline has been wanting to retire their A380s for a while, though the catch is that this is the only plane in their fleet capable of operating the flight nonstop (as part of their reorganization, they retired all of their 777s a while back).
The good news is that Malaysia Airlines has six A350s on order, which they’ll be using to operate the London route. This is a big capacity downgrade for the airline, but that’s the intention — given how many seats they have to sell on the A380, their yields are bad, and they’re hoping to improve that with the A350.
Well, Malaysia Airlines will soon be taking delivery of their first A350, and they’ve just revealed service start dates. Per @airlineroute, Malaysia will begin operating the A350 on their two daily frequencies between Kuala Lumpur and London as of the following dates:
- MH004/001 as of January 15, 2018
- MH003/002 as of March 5, 2018
If they stick to that schedule, that means A380s won’t be operating scheduled flights anymore as of March 2018.
Malaysia’s A350s will feature a total of 286 seats, including four first class seats, 31 business class seats, and 251 economy class seats. Notably, Malaysia Airlines will be the first airline to offer a first class cabin on the A350.
First class will consist of a single row in a 1-2-1 configuration, though we don’t yet know exactly what product they’re going with. In business class, Malaysia will have the same staggered configuration that they have on their A330s.
As a point of comparison, on the A380 Malaysia Airlines just had standard forward facing fully flat seats, so the new product is a nice improvement. I reviewed this product on a flight between Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
A380 first class featured eight spacious but open suites in a 1-2-1 configuration. I reviewed this product from London to Kuala Lumpur and back.
If you’re like to try Malaysia’s new first class product — whatever it may be — there seems to be one first class award seat on most flights. Given that there are only four total seats, that’s a pretty fair allotment. There’s also a fair amount of business class award availability. Some flights have no business seats, while others have four.
If you want to redeem miles for a first class award seat between Kuala Lumpur and London, one of the better values is booking through American AAdvantage, as they charge 90,000 miles and there are no carrier imposed surcharges. Meanwhile that same ticket booked through British Airways would cost 140,000 Avios plus $450 in carrier imposed surcharges and taxes.
While this will mean the end of A380s operating scheduled commercial flights for Malaysia, the planes aren’t going anywhere right away. Malaysia Airlines has plans to lease these out to other airlines on a short term basis, and also to operate Hajj and Umrah flights with them.
I’m looking forward to trying Malaysia’s new first class product once it’s in service.
How can I use MH Enrich Miles to redeem for first class via American AAdvantage?
Malaysian probably goofed up big time, relying only on KUL-LHR for thier fleet. They could have tried routing the whale jets via Mumbai or Delhi onwards to London. They undermined the Indian Market. They could have also tried a London-New York like how AirIndia is doing. What say Lucky?
James, I do disagree.
The A330's seats, while much newer, are also much more uncomfortable than the A380's seats. Other than maybe the first row (where seats are still a bit tighter than the A380s), maybe half of the remaining seats are sufficient for me (I'm a reasonable 180cm / 85kg). The footwells on the A380, other than row 1, are terribly limiting.
Yes, you get more privacy and more direct aisle access, but even...
James, I do disagree.
The A330's seats, while much newer, are also much more uncomfortable than the A380's seats. Other than maybe the first row (where seats are still a bit tighter than the A380s), maybe half of the remaining seats are sufficient for me (I'm a reasonable 180cm / 85kg). The footwells on the A380, other than row 1, are terribly limiting.
Yes, you get more privacy and more direct aisle access, but even as a solo traveller, I just feel a lot of the newer products give up too much in terms of comfort. Sadly, Apex looks like it's not going to take off, airlines still have too much need for higher density.
Their lobster thermidor (pre-order) in first is great! :-)
Hey Lucky as someone based in China who would love to try out some of the randomly cheap business class fares that sometimes pop up from being in a random origin point (I.e Cairo) is there any way to know when these become available?
Looks like the J product is an improvement, but still not industry-leading as looks to be in that awkard 1-2-1 / 1-1-2 configuration with "throne seats" and such. Kind of a shame they didn't go reverse herringbone or with what KE and JL and a few others have done. I wonder how the densities would compare.
@Martin
Obviously you haven't flown MH. The hard product on their A330 is much superior compared to that of their A380s.
I'm flying KUL PVG next month on the A330 in business class. I used AAdvantage miles.
Octopussy,
I would never prefer a A330 to a A380 on ANY route!
It sounds like First Class on the A350 will be based on the Vantage XL:
https://www.ausbt.com.au/malaysia-airlines-london-airbus-a350-flights-start-january-2018
That's the same seat Qantas and SAS use for business class, but it comes in a Vantage First variant:
https://www.ausbt.com.au/vantage-first-qantas-a330-boeing-787-business-class-seat-gets-first-class-upgrade
Just looked up some dates in Feb 2018 - and they are still scheduling A380's on some flights: 5 Feb 18 MH2
I'm sad...
They regularly sold HKG-LHR business class RT for less than US$2000...
I guess we'll never see that kind of sales again.
@ben Booked!
Award Space on BA wide open in C and F
They will operate A380 from tomorrow (Aug 11) for a while between KUL-NRT.
I prefer A330 for the route!
@lucky "given how many seats they have to sell on the A350" I think you mean the A380?
@ Seamus -- I do indeed, thanks!