A380: A new flying experience with MAS

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Airlines first Airbus A380 made its debut commercial flight, MH002,  from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport last night.

Bernama reported Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was present to send off the fully booked inaugural flight of the A380 thrice weekly services to London.

Muhyiddin with guest of honours during the inaugural flight Also present were Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha and MAS Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

Captains Norshid Ali and Ahmad Zuraidi Dahlan flew the 9M-MNA registered aircraft.

Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had said on Friday the general response for the new aircraft has been very positive, signalling a better prospect for the newly improved and revamped service from the airline.

“It is hoped that the new Airbus will set a new flying experience for our passengers,” Ahmad said during the touch down ceremony of the ferry flight from Toulouse.

The Mole was one of its 90 guests who were given the opportunity to fly on its ferry flight together with Malaysia Airports chief executive officer Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, several representatives from Ministry of Finance and MAS Employee Union.

Blogger Big Dog wrote the aircraft offers eight First Class, 66 Golden Club Class and 420 Economy seats. Comparing itself with the former largest aircraft, Boeing 747-400 passengers will be able to enjoy more spacious room in its seat.

In his post Big Dog wrote: "First Class passengers will be able to enjoy a full flat bed recline and a 23-inch high definition inflight entertainment (IFE) screen."

"The new Economy Class would be 18-inch wide with extra leg and head room, as compared to existing Malaysia Airlines’ wide body aircrafts like B747-400 and B777-200. It also has a 32inch pitch and 10.4 inches screen," Big Dog stated adding that passengers in this class are now able to use the power and USB socket from individual seats.

The Mole learned MAS became one of the eight airliners in the world to operate the largest commercial jetliner, where the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 560 tonnes.

More than half the MTOW weight is fuel, where the aircraft is able to upload a maximum of 320,000 litres of jet aviation kerosene and fly the Super Jumbo to a range of 15,000km.

With increasing competition from other airline services, MAS could not afford to lose out to its competitors thus having the Airbus will provide the solution as the A380 offers the lowest fuel burn per seat, allowing operators to increase capacity by around 20 percent at no overall extra cost.

It maintains the same capacity but fly it at 15 to 20 per cent lower cost per trip and per seat, over a week’s schedule.

Source: MOLE