I wanna fly Malaysia’s A380

I now have four reasons to fly Malaysian.

Reason One:  I have never flown them,

Reason Two : They are rated a five star airline by Skytrax

Reason Three: They are on track to  join Oneworld in the last quarter of the year which means I can now start earning Qantas points and Status Credits when flying Malaysian

Reason Four: They are the lastest  airline to fly the A380. Operating 3 times weekly  (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday)  as MH 002, the big bird, leaves Kuala Lumpur at 1140pm and flies non stop to London for a 550am arrival (ugh). The return MH 003 leaves London Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 12pm and arrives Kuala Lumpur the next day at 725pm. Malaysian is saying they will go daily, from 13th August.  KL- Sydney will follow from 25 September, 2012 as flights MH123/122 replacing the Boeing 747-400 aircraft currently serving the route.

The A380 has two full-length decks which each user configures to suit its own requirements. iThe Malaysian version has  494 seats across three classes. Check out the Malaysian Air seat map here

First Class located downstairs at the front of the plane has eight seats with an 89″ pitch and 40″ width. These are the widest First class seats in the sky. They are arranged 1/2/1. There are three first class toilets so queueing won’t happen often.

Business Class: Upstairs there are 48 Business seats arranged 2/2/. Seat pitch: 74 inches – seats turn into a full flat bed. Each seat has a 17-inch video screen. There appear to be only two lavatories for this cabin.

Controversially it has made Business and First Class child free. I have not seen much reaction to this announcement generally. The test will come when a high profile business traveller is denied access with their tribe.

There are 350 Economy seats downstairs with a 32″ pitch and 18″ width arranged 3/4/3. On the upper deck, there are 70 arranged 2/4/2 Each seat has its own 10.9″ TV. There are eight lavatories downstairs and two upstairs.

The up to date list of the eight airlines who  now possess 77 of the Superjumbo 380s. The number in brackets indicates how many 380s the carrier has. The asterix (*) means I have flown this airline’s A380.

1. Air France (8)*
2. China Southern (3)
3. Emirates  (22)*
4. Korean (5) *
5. Lufthansa (10)*
6. Malaysian (1)
7. Qantas (12) *
8. Singapore (17)*
9. Thai will start flying their A380 in October with six will be in service by the end of next year. Routes have not been finalised. Their A380 will have 507 seats in three-classes: 12 seats in Royal First Class, 60 seats in Royal Silk Class and 435 seats in Economy.

Airbus has firm orders from 19 airlines and one holding company for 257 of these planes. Five of those were ordered by Kingfisher, who have yet to prove they will survive as an airline. One third of the orders are from Emirates who intend to have  a staggering 90 of the planes flying under their colours.

Related Posts

China Southern’s Third 380 

Tuesday Trip Report: Korean Airlines A380

Tuesday Trip Report: Lufthansa’s A380

Tuesday Trip Report: Air France A380

LAX-SYD on A380

Emirates- comparing the A380

My Pinterest pictures of A380s