A video review of my flight from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Johor Bahru (JHB) on Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 in May 2022.
I flew on the day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid al-Fitr), the largest festival celebrated in Malaysia.
Flight Details:
Airline: Malaysia Airlines
Route: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Johor Bahru (JHB)
Flight No: MH1051
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Registration: 9M-LJK
Flight Time: 45min
Music © Bensound
Video © 2022 Viman Photography
BACKGROUND
Malaysia Airlines (MH) recently took delivery of its first brand new Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The aircraft is slated to take over the airline’s long haul routes that were formerly operated by the now retired Boeing 777s and also the ones operated presently by the Airbus A380 (i.e. KUL-LHR)
The A350s will prove to be a cost effective and fuel-efficient alternative than the gigantic A380 and provide much longer range than the airline’s A330-300s. At the time of writing this, MH has taken delivery of a second A350, and both the aircraft are currently doing short domestic and regional hops for crew training/familiarisation.
I saw this as a good opportunity to try out the Business Class product on the brand new aircraft, and promptly booked a flight to Penang (PEN), operated by the A350
REACHING THE AIRPORT
I was booked on MH 1140, with a scheduled departure time of 1105. However I received a text from MH a few hours before departure, informing me of a delay in departure. I left home accordingly, and reached the KLIA Main Terminal with plenty of time to spare.
A quick visit to the Anjung Tinjau (Viewing Gallery) at KLIA gave me an opportunity to spot my aircraft docked at its designated gate.
CHECK-IN
Check-in was quick and the Business Class counter had just one person ahead of me, and I was checked-in in no time at all.
The check-in agent handed me my boarding pass and invited me to the newly renovated Malaysia Airlines’ domestic Golden Lounge.
Security check took no more than 2 minutes, and I was soon in the domestic departures area.
A view of the retail area in the Domestic Departures hold.
The MH lounge was a five-minute walk away, and a smiling MH lounge attendant greeted me at the reception.
The lounge had a definitely fresh look to it, and didn’t seem too crowded at the time. I quickly found a seat facing the tarmac, and grabbed some coffee and snacks.
The view from the MH Domestic Golden Lounge.
The food & drink counter
As the boarding time approached, I made my way towards the departure gate, which was a good 10 minute walk from the lounge.
BOARDING
Sector: KUL-PEN
Airline: Malaysia Airlines
Flight: MH 1140
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Registration: 9M-MAB
Seat: 10A
This would be my ride today! Malaysia Airlines’ first Airbus A350-900 9M-MAB
Boarding for our flight was announced at 1130, 30 minutes before the revised departure time, and the huge crowd of waiting passengers queued up almost immediately. I on the other hand, took my own time admiring the brand new bird.
As the queue thinned out, I walked over to the boarding counter. The agent quickly scanned my boarding pass, and I made my way to the aerobridge.
Looked like a full house today!
Much larger windows on the A350 as compared to conventional aircraft. However, the 787 windows are larger.
The Business Class on MH A350-900 has a total of 35 seats and is divided into two sections. The forward section is the larger of the two, and is separated from the smaller aft section by the Business Class galley. I had selected a seat in the aft cabin, and I had the whole cabin to myself on this flight.
The Business Class cabin features a staggered 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 configuration. On the port side, there are single seats adjacent to the window, while on the starboard side, there are single as well as double seats in alternate rows. The middle section has 2 seats in a staggered arrangement.
This should give you an idea of the seating configuration.
The seat itself is nice and comfy and wide enough for a long haul flight. It of course reclines into a fully flat bed.
The legroom
Seat controls
The crew offered a choice of welcome drinks (apple juice, orange juice, guava juice or water) and I opted for an orange juice.
The boarding process took around 40 minutes, and we were ten minutes past our departure time by the time it was completed. The doors were soon closed but we waited a few more minutes for pushback clearance.
The Captain on our flight today was a senior Airbus check pilot, and the First Officer was a Malaysian. The MH pilots are currently undergoing checks with pilots from Airbus.
The view out of my window (Seat 10A)
The IFE system
Nice little cubbyholes to keep your smartphone and water bottle
THE FLIGHT
We finally pushed back 20 minutes past noon, and slowly the two RR Trent XWB engines powered up. The A350-900 is super quiet, and even with the engines powered on, you could hear the hiss of the air-conditioning vents.
A small prayer as we begin our journey
We began a slow taxi towards Runway 32R, which was the active departure runway, and held short as a Malindo Air 737 began its take-off roll.
Soon it was our turn, and we lined up on the runway. The Trent XWBs spooled up to take-off thrust and we accelerated down the runway. The A350 was incredibly quiet even during take-off, so much so that one can hear the distinct sound of the flaps being retracted.
Our heading today would be northerly straight to PEN.
The Business Class seat in the fully flat position
I spent the next few minutes chatting with the cabin crew about their experience with this new aircraft. The crew seemed really pleased with it and was looking forward to operating it on the long haul routes. As per the head purser, MH would be operating the A350 on the KUL-LHR route starting Jan 15th.
The crew was kind enough to offer me a tour of the First Class cabin.
The First Class cabin on board MH A350-900 consists of 4 enclosed suites in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Plenty of space in the suite
Seat & IFE controls
With the door in the closed position
I loved the choice of colours used in the First Class cabin; gives it a premium look and feel.
Posing with the cabin crew. They were really courteous and answered all my questions patiently! 🙂
ARRIVAL
The flight to PEN was quite short at 40 minutes, and the first officer announced that we had begun our descent.
As we descended into PEN, the view outside my window was gorgeous!
We touched down at 1315, nearly twenty minutes past our revised arrival time.
After a short taxi, we docked at the Penang International Airport terminal, bringing to an end this short but enjoyable flight.
SUMMARY
The hard product on board MH’s A350-900 is definitely state of the art, and looks pretty comfortable for the long haul flights it will eventually operate. Since this was a short flight, I was not able to experience the on board service though. However, MH is generally pretty good as far as the in flight service is concerned.
The food variety is decent, and the signature satay is simply delicious. I hope MH comes up with some special offerings to mark the introduction of this brand new aircraft type. I also hope that the A350-900 brings in some much needed resurgence in MH’s fortunes. Here’s wishing them all the best!
Thank you all for reading.
BOM-KUL – Business Class on Malaysia Airlines Retro Boeing 737
INTRODUCTION
I was heading back to Kuala Lumpur after a short visit to my hometown, Mumbai for the Chinese New Year holiday. At the time, there were only two airline options between BOM & KUL – Malaysia Airlines (which operated two flights daily) and Malindo Air (one flight daily) Both airlines operate the narrow-body Boeing 737 on this route.
Since then, Indonesia AirAsia X has started a flight to BOM, deploying an Airbus A330-300 on the DPS-KUL-BOM route.
Anyway, I had booked my travel to BOM and back on MH. This report describes my journey back to KUL on Malaysia Airlines Business Class on their Boeing 737-800.
REACHING THE AIRPORT
I was booked on MH 195, the traditional late night departure out of BOM for Malaysia Airlines. This flight used to be operated by MH’s B777-200ERs before the type was phased out in late 2015/early 2016. To overcome this downgrade in capacity, MH has added a second daily flight, which departs BOM at 0225 in the morning.
The late evening traffic on the way to the airport was not too bad, and I arrived at the CSIA Terminal 2 drop-off area nearly 3 hours before departure.
View of the BOM Terminal 2 departures area
CHECK-IN
The Malaysia Airlines check-in counters are located in Row J, and there was a sizeable queue there.
The Business Class counter had 4-5 people ahead of me, and it took nearly 7-8 minutes for my turn.
The check-in process was fast, and took less than five minutes, and I was handed my boarding pass, lounge invitation and the immigration departure card. I was on seat 1F – a bulkhead window seat.
The aircraft flying me back to KUL was 9M-MXA, wearing the “40 Years of MH” retro colours. Woohoo! A quick check on FR24 revealed that the incoming aircraft was over an hour away.
Security check was next, and took no more than five minutes. There was a long queue for immigration however, and the process took nearly 15 minutes, before I was released into the Duty Free area.
A view of the BOM Duty Free
My favourite section 🙂
The FIDS showing International Departures out of BOM
Love that ceiling!
Looking towards the food court area. Plenty of options to eat and drink
It was now time to head to the lounge to relax for a bit.
BOM Terminal 2 has a common use lounge called “GVK Lounge” for premium passengers. The lounge is massive, and is divided into two levels – one for First Class and the other for Business Class passengers. At the outset, I was not sure whether having a common lounge was a good idea for an airport the size of BOM. It was possible that the lounge would get overcrowded, especially during the peak international departure times.
However, after using this lounge on a few occasions, I have never seen it being crowded.
Here are a few photos of the lounge.
The ornate entrance! Looks more like the entrance to a fancy hotel!
The seating area
The bar
The quiet zone featuring leather recliners
The food spread
I was feeling quite hungry, as it was way past dinnertime.
The GVK lounge offers its patrons a complimentary 15-minute neck & back massage or a 15-minute foot massage. I opted for a foot massage and after finishing my dinner, headed to the in-house spa. It was pretty relaxing, and I was charged up for the upcoming flight.
As the boarding time approached, I headed out towards the departure gates. We were to depart from Gate 69 that night.
A view of the walkway to the departures area.
The seating area at Gate 69. Look at those chandeliers!
BOARDING
Sector: BOM-KUL
Airline: Malaysia Airlines
Flight: MH 195
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Registration: 9M-MXA “40 Years of MH” retro livery
Seat: 1F
As I sat down at the departure gate, our aircraft had just landed and was taxiing towards the terminal.
Here she is, about to dock at the gate.
We had to wait for another 30 odd minutes before boarding was announced. As is the ritual, families with infants and children were invited to board first, followed by Oneworld premium members. Business Class passengers were asked to board at their convenience.
A view of our aircraft from the aerobridge.
I was greeted by a couple of MH cabin crew at the aircraft door and ushered to my seat.
The Business Class seats on board Malaysia Airlines 737-800. Pretty standard stuff.
My seat – 1F
The legroom on this first row of Business Class
A welcome drink was offered. There was a choice of apple juice, orange juice or water. I opted for the orange juice.
Here’s the menu for our flight tonight
Three main course options on this five-hour flight is not bad at all! The highlight is the appetizer consisting of Malaysian satay. Yummy!
The beverage selection on the menu. There were no alcoholic beverages listed on the menu although MH does serve them on the flight.
Boarding was soon complete, and doors were closed. After a wait of another 10 minutes we got our pushback clearance, and we began our taxi towards Runway 27.
THE FLIGHT
The cabin lights were dimmed for take-off and the safety video was played on the IFE screens. Since the IFE screen for the bulkhead seats is in the armrest, a nice little drop-down screen did the job instead.
Holding short of Runway 27
After waiting for a couple of arrivals, we lined up on the runway and were airborne after a longish take-off roll.
There were no clouds in the vicinity, and the seat belt signs were soon turned off.
My seat at the full-reclined position.
The cabin crew then handed out a pair of headphones. These active noise cancellation headphones were a bit on the heavier side but did a decent job of blocking out the noise of the engines and the surroundings. The sound quality of course was average.
Although this aircraft wears the retro MH livery on the outside, it is anything but retro on the inside. The cabin is equipped with the Boeing Sky Interior and looks quite up to date. Here is a view of the Business Class cabin on our aircraft featuring a total of 16 seats.
The drinks trolley made an appearance soon and I asked for a beer.
An appetizer consisting of some delicious Malaysian satay with a lovely peanut dip was served. The satay is a trademark MH offering, and I am glad that the airline continues to serve it.
The piping hot satay was a perfect accompaniment to the chilled Carlsberg. Just the right environment to pull out the IFE screen and do a bit of TV watching.
We were flying on a roughly south-easterly heading on our way to KUL.
Over 4 hours to go.
Another view of the front row. Two seats vacant tonight.
I had finished my beer and the lovely satay, and the crew asked me if I was ready for the main meal. A tablecloth was laid out and the crew brought out the meal in a nice little tray.
“Supper” consisting of a chicken gravy along with dried fruits rice and sautéed vegetables. This was accompanied by a bowl of yoghurt; cut fruits, an assortment of bread along with some “dahi-samosa chaat”.
The portion served was sufficient for this flight.
The taste was good, nothing really spectacular.
After having my fill, I decided to watch a movie as I find it difficult to sleep on a flight.
Malaysia Airlines doesn’t hand out full-fledged amenity kits in Business Class on their regional routes operated by the Boeing 737s. Instead, the crew distributed eyeshades and slippers. This is one big improvement area for MH, as SQ hands out mini-kits even in Premium Economy Class on their BOM-SIN flights.
I finished watching the movie, and tried to fall asleep. I was successful, and only woke up as we were passing over the Malacca Straits.
I freshened up and was listening to some music when our first officer announced that we would soon start our descent into KUL.
The cabin crew appeared with a tray of drinks as people began to wake up. I downed another glass of orange juice.
ARRIVAL
The cabin crew did their ritual of preparing the cabin for arrival as we began our descent. The descent was relatively smooth with only one layer of clouds to plough through.
The sun was just rising over the district of Sepang as we made a 180-degree turn to line up on our final approach to KUL Runway 32L.
We touched down with a nice, positive thud and a brief application of the twin reversers slowed us down to taxi speed.
We taxied towards the KLIA Satellite Terminal and finally docked at our gate some 20 minutes behind schedule. Not too shabby at all!
It took another 5-7 minutes for the door to be opened, and I thanked the crew and walked out of the aircraft.
A view of the KUL Satellite Terminal. Love that design!
The terminal was nicely lit up for the Chinese New Year holiday.
After a quick Aerotrain ride to the main terminal, I made my way towards Immigration. There was no queue at all at the dedicated First/Business Immigration counters, and my passport was stamped within a minute.
A brisk walk later, I was at our designated baggage belt to be greeted by this sight!
It took nearly 10 more minutes for the bags to start arriving, and thankfully mine was amongst the first lot to arrive.
SUMMARY
It was a typical narrow-body regional flight experience on board Malaysia Airlines Business Class. The seats are your average 737 style recliner seats. The extra width as compared to Economy Class is welcome though.
The onboard service on Malaysia Airlines leaves a lot to be desired. The lack of a comprehensive menu listing all the beverage options is one callout. The service from the cabin crew is average with no personalisation at all. A bit of a letdown here.
The food options are good, and the serving portions are sufficient. The signature MH satay is a big plus!
The lack of amenity kits in Business Class is another big letdown. Other airlines offer mini amenity kits even in Economy/Premium Economy Class on overnight flights.
Even Malindo Air – which is a semi-LCC and is a direct competitor to MH offers an amenity kit in Business Class! Hope MH looks into this aspect soon.
Hope you enjoyed this report on the Business Class experience onboard Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800.
Thank you all for reading!
The LIMA (Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition) 2017 maritime and aerospace exhibition for defence, civil and commercial applications will be held next month in Langkawi, Malaysia.
The biennial event will be held between 21st and 25th March 2017 will be held at The Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre, Langkawi for the Aerospace exhibition and Resorts World, Langkawi for the Maritime exhibition. This year will be the 14th edition of LIMA and it promises to be as spectacular as always. There will be something for everyone – whether you are an aviation geek or a maritime enthusiast.
The highlight of the five day event will of course be the daily aerial displays and boat demonstrations.
The list of confirmed participants for the aerial displays this year is as follows:
Source: LIMA Exhibition Official Website
As you can see from the line-up above, it looks like a power-packed display this year. It will be exciting to see the Royal Malaysian Air Force birds in action, as well as the Airbus A330 & A380s from Malaysia Airlines. The USAF B-1B Lancer fly past also promises to be an exciting event.
I am also looking forward to seeing the Indian Air Force Sarang Aerobatic Team in action with their brightly coloured HAL Dhruv helicopters. I last saw them in action two years ago at Aero India 2015 in Bangalore, India.
Look forward to more updates soon!
Malaysia Airlines recently decided to bring a Boeing 747-400 back into active service. The 747-400s were retired a couple of years ago when the A380s joined the fleet. The 747 will provide interim heavy lift to the airline while the A380s go through maintenance. The Jumbo is supposed to operate its long haul service to London on two days of the week.
The aircraft that was re-commissioned is registered as 9M-MPP (formerly named as “Putrajaya”) Malaysia Airlines has painted this aircraft in the retro 1970s livery. Many aviation enthusiasts including me were pretty excited when this piece of news broke, and we have been waiting patiently for the Queen to take to the skies.
The big day finally arrived! The 747-400 was supposed to roll out and get airborne for a test flight at 10AM local time on April 26th 2016. All the local plane spotters and aviation enthusiasts flocked to the Subang airport (where the aircraft was parked) and waited for the aircraft to show up. 10AM came and went, and there was no sign of the Queen. Then we got to know that there was a technical issue with the aircraft, and it was taken back to the hangar. The test flight would have to wait for another day!
The new date for the test flight was two days later – on April 28th at 2PM local time. Again, the enthusiast community came out in full force to view the Queen. This time we hoped that she would show up! At around 2PM, the aircraft showed up on Flightradar24, which meant that the transponders were active.
The aircraft had been given a callsign – MH5109 for the test flight.
We were getting impatient, as the aircraft showed no movement. We were hoping that the technical issues had been sorted, and the Queen would finally take to the skies.
Just before 3PM, the 747 finally started taxiing out. We got ready with our cameras to capture this event. Dark rain clouds had gathered over the Subang area, and the light had faded quite a bit. As she made her way to the active runway, we could see streaks of lightning with accompanying thunder all around. It was as if the weather gods were announcing the arrival of the Queen! 🙂
As she lined up on Runway 15, the heavens opened up! What started off as a slight drizzle, turned into a torrential downpour. We were caught in between – sheltering our cameras from the rain, and craning our necks to catch sight of the Queen. We soon heard the four Pratt & Whitney PW4056 powerplants spool up to take-off power, and a loud cheer went up amongst the waiting plane-spotters. And in the next few seconds, the four engines spooled down, bringing a look of worry on all our faces. The engines spooled up and spooled down once again, before spooling up once more and the aircraft finally started to roll. As soon as the Queen came into view, our cameras went into overdrive, capturing her spraying water all around.
What a sight it was!
After a shortish take-off roll, the Queen took to the skies with a grace typical of the 747.
That’s it – the Malaysian Queen was finally back in the air!
After taking off from Subang, the aircraft turned north and headed out to the Malacca Strait for its tests. The aircraft made multiple circuits at varying altitudes around Penang and the Malacca Strait for nearly three hours before heading back south to Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft was supposed to land at KLIA (KUL) at around 6PM local time.
We reached there well in time for the arrival, and hoped that the rain gods would keep away this time. At exactly 6PM, the familiar shape of a 747 on approach became visible on the horizon. The Queen touched down with a puff of smoke on Runway 32L and deployed her reversers briefly.
As she rolled out, we got another view of the beautiful curves of the Queen of the skies…
Test flight complete, the aircraft was parked at the cargo apron, next to her cargo cousins. We hoped all had gone as per plan, and the 747 was fit to fly once again.
Some not so good news emerged one day later, as the website Airlineroute.net reported that Malaysia Airlines had shelved plans to operate the 747-400 on the Kuala Lumpur – London route for the month of June. As of now, the reasons for this change are not known.
We only hope that all issues are sorted out, and the Queen takes to the skies soon!
Malaysia Airlines (MH) have finally phased out the Boeing 777-200ERs from their fleet. The last flights operated by the Boeing 777s took place on January 26/27th 2016.
Amsterdam and Paris were the final destinations operated by these long-haul birds before they were grounded.
The Boeing 777-200ERs formed the backbone of the MH long haul fleet along with the Boeing 747s and even after the retirement of the Jumbos.
The twin tragedies that struck Malaysia Airlines in 2014 – MH370 and MH17 involved the 777s, partly prompting the decision to retire the type. There was nothing wrong with the aircraft, but the passenger numbers for MH dwindled after the two tragedies, making it difficult for them to fill these aircraft on the long-haul routes they operated.
MH have deployed their narrow-body 737-800s on quite a few regional routes e.g. Hong Kong, Mumbai, Guangzhou, etc. which were operated by the 777s earlier. However long-haul routes like Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, etc. that were perfectly suited for the 777s were simply axed!
A de-registered Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER with titles removed holds short of Rwy 32L as another company 777 begins its take-off roll.
The Malaysian 777s are powered by Rolls Royce Trent 892 engines and wear the classic 1990s livery. They were never painted in the revised colours sported by the airline’s 737-800s and A330-300s. As these aircraft are over 15 years old, it remains to be seen if another airline will pick them up. If not, they will surely head for the scrapyard.
It is sad to see the 777s go away from the Malaysia Airlines fleet. I have had the opportunity to fly on these birds on a couple of occasions and absolutely loved the experience!
These long-haul workhorses have served Malaysia Airlines well, and will be sorely missed.
GOODBYE Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ERs!
Viman Photography 