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I wonder why MAS is not acting as a premier "full service" airline (remember the publicity over MAS's Skytrax ranking?) and taking the fight to the likes of Spore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Qantas instead of descending into the trough of low-cost "no frills" and duking it out with the likes of AirAsia?

I don't recall that SIA, Cathay, British Airways or Qantas have ever had to resort to "Everyday Low Fares" or having to give seats away.

So, what is driving this MAS strategy? Have they conceded the high end of the market (the premium business and first class services) to their competitors?

Look at SIA's latest financial results. For the year to March 31, 2008, it made a net profit of S$2.05 billion (RM4.7 billion) on revenues of close to S$16 billion (RM36.8 billion).

MAS has a long, long way to go before it can match what SIA is making now in terms of revenues and profit. Has MAS given up the fight and, instead, trained its guns on AirAsia?

(And Tony Fernandes should take a reality check before claiming that AirAsia will eventually be bigger than SIA!).

Idris Jala would no doubt be uncomfortably aware that SIA will be launching non-stop all business class flights this year from Singapore to New York and Los Angeles. And that SIA will have no less than 6 Airbus A380 super-jumbo aircraft in service before the end of the year.

To my mind, one of the saddest comments on Malaysia's national aviation policy (or the lack of one) came in Idris Jala's interview with TheEdge Malaysia business weekly (May 12 issue):

"The reality is that Changi is a stronger business hub, which can be attributed to Singapore being a major world financial market...For evidence of this, one only needs to look the number of European business traffic to and from Malaysia, which is less than half of that to and from Singapore...."

So, what Idris Jala is saying is that MAS is unable to compete at the high end of the market because Singapore is far ahead of KL in terms of being a major hub for MNCs and financial institutions.

That, Jeff, should allow you or your colleagues in Parliament to formulate several interesting questions to ask the International Trade & Industry Minister and the Transport Minister. A key question would be whether they agree with what Idris Jala has said about Changi being a "stronger business hub".

why do business leaders need to debate. we know Tony has done some campaigning for BN but that is politics bro. If you believe in your business, then let the market place be the battle ground not some room to debate. If you want debates, join politics or a debate club.

as for the Minister, let them fight it out. Damn when prices go down, you guys want to step in. when prices go up, you can only say we can't subsidise bla bla.

skillgannon: Correction: MAS is not going into "low-cost "no frills"". MAS is simply offering its empty seats for free (plus taxes), couple with full service frills, which is simply different than what AirAsia is offering.

guys,

Its tony from airasia. I am all for competition. It is good for the consumers and I have no issue, the market will decide who will survive and obviously MAS will not die, heres hoping we survive.

All we are asking for is for more competition. We want Penang singapore which only mas and sia fly amongst other routes. For the consumer there should be choices on all routes.

It is a damm tough business but we will keep fighting for a level plaing field .

Skilganon of course I am dreaming about SIA but if we dont have ambitions and dreams then where do we go. WE started with 2 planes 6 years later we have 72 thas still feels like a dream.

ANyway Jeff congrats on your win , been a while and good luck.

JEFF OOI says: Thanks Tony. I flew AirAsia to Vietnam most recently. My family and I remembered that as a pleasant flight and we bought meals on board. Wish you could start the PEN-CKG and PEN-SIN direct flights soon.

What MAS is doing is in the right direction. I have noticed that MAS seats tend to be sold out quicker than AirAsia.

However, I want to add that the so called "zero fare" offered by both airlines are very misleading. They imply the flights are free. But they are not.

They charge you for "fuel surcharge" and the amount is still substantial. It can cost several hundred dollars. If you are going to charge for fuel, shouldn't that be included in the price of the ticket?

I mean, to make things simpler, can I sell Hokkien Mee and claim that I am giving away free Hokkien mee and then charge my customers a "mee surcharge" ?

If its free then its free. If I have to pay for fuel surcharge, then that should be included in the price of the ticket. Otherwise, Zero fare is not zero fare, it is simply a DISCOUNT fare. If you are a transportation company, the cost of fuel should be included in the customer's ticket price.

pls help us in parliament by getting us the route . I am fighting hard for Penang Singapore, KK sing , Kuching sing. thats my point why re we not allowed to compete on all routes .
Thanks for flying on airasia.

We have to improve our marketing. We are flying Penang Jakarta. take care and keep in touch,

kind regards,
tony

We Sarawakians and Sabahans suffered when FAX operated here (in Sabah/Sarawak). Out of so many Fokkers, only ONE was fit for flying when FAX finally gave way to MASWings. FAX has almost no maintenance program to speak of. This and more, made me wonder what do you Tony stand for?

You practically disallowed disabled passengers from using your airlines ("Now everyone can fly (EXCEPT THE DISABLED)"), until recently. You made passengers walk on the airport tarmac in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, everywhere! so that you could skimp off the airport fees, but at the same time you use the same ATC tower and the same fire brigade supports.

You Tony are in cahoots with the politicians, asking for subisidies yourself (LCCT was built only for you! Did you contribute a sen from your wallet? I thought so!), and you accused MAS of having subsidies!

finally mas has decided to compete with aa. at least, we as a consumer, we have a choice than nothing.

i still remembered that i had took 2 flights with aa and expect for the cheap ticket, i cant find anything good about it. flights delayed, rude/unfriendly staff, cramp seats and etc. with this competition, i hope tat both airlines will improve what they think they should. competition is healthy, at least it sounds better than monopoly. price is not really a big issue, the issue is the service.

i went to bangkok last month and i was given 2 choices, either mas or aa. i choosed mas although the price was a bit pricey but i knew tat it will be worth it cos of the time saving and great service. hope some changes to be seen in both of them

good to see tony on this site. MAS seems to be losing their focus.

Why is it that MAHB needs to build low cost terminals when all that is required by air asia and other LCC's is a parking space, some buses and a landing stairs, powered bags trolley and access to exit the airport using existing facilites either directly or through immigration and customs.

without tony, there would not have been low cost fares. Good luck

Hi, Jeff

I note that DPM Najib has asked MAS to resume it's KL-Cairo flights.

Look at the destinations to which MAS suspended service from KL: Cairo, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Fukuoka, Vienna, Zurich and Manchester.

Now look at some of the destinations that SIA flies to from Changi: Cairo, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Fukuoka, Zurich and Manchester.

See a pattern here? It's strange that MAS claims that services from KL to these destinations is unprofitable, while SIA has no problems maintaining good load factors and making profits on the same destinations ex-Changi.

So much so that if I want to travel to Cairo, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Fukuoka, Zurich or Manchester, I would have to travel to Changi and board a SIA flight, instead of being to travel on MAS from KLIA.

That's not just ironic, it's bloody shameful!

Consider the cities served by SIA in North America: Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and New York (Newark & JFK airports). MAS offers a paltry choice of Los Angeles and New York (Newark).

Or consider the cities in India served by SIA ex-Changi: Amritsar, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai. I can get better connectivity to India by SIA from Changi than by MAS from KLIA.

Or Australia, where SIA operates 88 flights from Changi to Australian destinations.

So, Datuk Tony F - if you keep tabs on this blog, please shout out loud to the powers that be in the Transport Ministry as to why MAS's route network is so deficient and why is it not pulling the premium business and first-class traffic? Which it should, as a premier "full service" airline, right?

And what is the government doing to make KLIA a regional hub offering connectivity on par with Changi (80 airlines offering 4,100 weekly scheduled flights to 180 destinations in 57 countries)?

If KLIA is a poor 3rd best behind Changi and Hong Kong, we deserve to know why. And if MAS can't compete with SIA and Cathay Pacific, we deserve to know also. Right?

In responds to Hansac's comment, if i am not mistaken, airasia requested for the old subang airport instead of a new purpose built LCCT. It is the government's decision to built the new LCCT and I believe it is for MAS's sake, can u imagine a direct flight all the way to subang/selangor? what would happen to MAS?

let's have a free for all market allow all foreign airlines to enter malaysian market & compete with local airlines be it full serviced or budget no frills to compete on equal grounds .....consumers will have the last laugh....cheers.....