Everyone remembers their first flying experience.
As Leonardo da Vinci described it, “once you have tasted
flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for
there you have been, and there you will always long to return”.
Mine was on Malaysia Airlines from Subang Airport to
Senai Airport in Johor Baru in 1984. I was 22 and had completed my first month
of employment. I flew home for the weekend to see my parents. And, I flew home
on a monthly basis for about a year, all because I didn’t want to spend hours
travelling by bus or rail.
It is my airline of choice, either travelling for leisure
or for work, locally or abroad. You can call it blind loyalty, given the fact
that other local and international airlines are giving many good deals in terms
of fares and comfort.
The national carrier gives me and many other Malaysians I
know that instant homey feeling, especially if we have been away from the
country too long. I know of some friends who, travelling in Business Class,
look forward to the satay, the mug of teh tarik and the bowl of instant noodle
soup, which comes with slices of chicken and prawns, fishballs and tofu, some
greens and slivers of red chillies. Seriously, nothing beats eating MAS’s
instant noodles at 30,000 feet. MAS gives us a sense of homecoming that no
other local airlines do, with its “Thank you for flying with Malaysia Airlines.
And to all Malaysians, the “Welcome home” announcement as the plane, upon
landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, taxis to its designated bay.
We stand proud with the national carrier as it brings
home the coveted Skytrax World Airline Awards. Dubbed the “Oscars” of the
aviation industry, Skytrax is a global benchmark of airline excellence, and
travellers from across the globe take part each year in the world’s largest
airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the award winners.
Yes, we are unhappy with the sad state of the airline
today. It used to win the five-star rating on Skytrax’s world airline rating,
which classifies airlines by the quality of their front-line products and staff
service standards. Now, it is on review for a rating of one. It is now ranked
24th out of 100 top airlines on Skytrax, compared with 18th in 2014.
Its new boss, Christoph Mueller, said the carrier was
“technically” bankrupt. The airline has been reported to be “overstaffed,
inefficient and unprofitable”, and struggling to deal with not only low-cost
competition, but that from full-service airlines, as well.
And, the airline is riddled with complaints of delays and
flight cancellations, and poor in-flight services, something which was unheard
of until recently. The latest on baggage requirement, which MAS tried to impose
on passengers on certain routes to Europe due to what it claimed were weather
conditions, was not well-received, and the airline had to later retract it.
Many fear that MAS may soon join the long list of defunct
airlines as listed by the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia. The list is so long
that Wikipedia had to break it down into geographical locations, namely Africa,
Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.
For Malaysia, it lists 14 defunct airlines. Journalists
and analysts tracking aviation will tell you that some of these airlines are
unheard of. Some do not even have International Air Transport Association and
International Civil Aviation Organisation air designators.
Passengers are now spoilt for choice. They will go with
airlines that give them the best rates and comfort. You can, for example, use
Tripadvisor to check for airlines with the cheapest fares on a particular
route.
You’ll be surprised that some Middle-Eastern five-star
airlines can give you the cheapest fares, especially to European destinations,
from this part of the world.
But, we have not yet given up hope on MAS.
So far, Mueller has gotten his way to restructure the
airline. He got the go-ahead to cut routes and axe some 6,000 staff members, a
plan that could have been executed under previous managements, but wasn’t
carried out because of reasons known only to the airline’s management.
Maybe, it is worth looking at how the four oldest
non-dirigible airlines that exist — the Netherlands’s KLM, Colombia’s Avianca,
Australia’s Qantas and the Czech Republic’s Czech Airlines — do it. KLM first
flew in May 1920, while Qantas (which stands for Queensland and Northern
Territory Aerial Services Limited) was founded in Queensland in the late 1920s.
And, there will eventually be a new name and livery for
the national airline. Just look at Sony, Nike and AirTran. Who remembers them
as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, Blue Ribbon Sports and ValuJet, respectively?
It may just work for the better for the new airline,
along with all the other changes that Mueller has in mind.
* first published in NST print and online on 14 January 2016
