Monday, October 13, 2008

MAS Fuel Surcharges remains to prop up profit

Surcharge down?

Not for MAS and AirAsia!

When the oil prices went up, MAS said they had no choice but to increase the price of its flight by way of higher fuel surcharge.

The increases of the surcharges went on for so many occasions.

The price of crude oil went up to US$158.85 on July 3, 2008.

Now the crude oil price is coming down sharply and as of today the price is lingering below US$80.00. Many airlines have cut the fuel surcharges - SIA, Quantas and Air France - KLM.

Crude price up, Surcharge up, up, up!

However, MAS and AirAsia needs to uphold the prices as they need the money to boost their profit and pay for their overheads.

They hope Malaysians would, with their BOLEH Spirit, continue to assist and contribute to enhance their bottom line and help MAS becomes much more profitable.

That is so wonderful-land of ours!

That is how Malaysian companies becomes profitable:

- screw the consumers and customers;

- get them to pay for whatever cost ;and

- should there be savings, keep it.

Malaysia Boleh!

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

well... someone's got to pay for the country mis-management right, and also those mega-projects?

Anonymous said...

not as sgpura power companies. with gas $$$$ dow, their tariff up and up. actually malaysia is not so bad after all

Unknown said...

it seems like once prices are up it will not be coming down. Our daily product prices have not budge since the last petrol increase and decreases.

but on your point pertain "screw the consumers and customers" i agree in total becos it is not only about prices increase in general but in all other matters as well.

i have just written about banks and their practices - not an analysis but just some questions on why the consumers like us always get the worst deal when it is our collective monies that maketh a bank..

malaysia consumers really need a strong body to speak up for us -.

Unknown said...

correction - I meant to say our daily product prices have increased after the last petrol increases but have not budge/lower since the petrol prices was reduced.

Anonymous said...

Told you this oredi..

But why harp of air travel? Planning on a trip? It is not a big issue for the man on the street. Maybe it is, to the well-off middle class?

Why not bitch on prices of chicken or beef? I understand that the chicken prices here are under the monopoly of the five chicks supplier headed by Leong Lup or sumthing like that. Ultimately, I was told the price of chicken today is determined by the price of day-old chicks which can be 80 sen today and RM 1.80 tomolo.

Personally, I prefer the 19 yr old from China.

RaZ

Anonymous said...

no point in griping. just dont fly MAS/AirAsia if there are cheaper alternatives.

Purple~MushRooM said...

Screw the damn blardy airline! I just realised the tickets i purchased online cannot have the flight changed!!! Fug em! It's not cheap... and I can't change. I hate this airline... next time i will book China Southern airlines... same plane... fly on MAS plane too. Just don't wanna give em so much profit. So mad now!

Anonymous said...

See Mav, don't say I didn't say so, don't say that I am too close minded and never give this blood suckers a chance to show their worth....
They will never chance coz all this while, all these blood suckers were spoon feed and do not really understand what we common people have to go thru to earn that monthly wages. They will never know!.
Well, at least Najib's Quanxi motto is strong at work as proven again now...
So, people stop complaining and just suck it up and diam diam!

Anonymous said...

raz,

people are talking about fuel here, and the airline industry. why is fuel more important about chicken and beef?

if you think your bitches, and chicks are more important, then it says a lot about your character mentality.

Maverick SM said...

Denzook,

Ya, not so bad after all!!!! We are dead poor.

Agnos,

The problem is domination and monopoly together with the govt's barrier of entry to certain business.

RaZ,

You are a rich man and your expenditure is paid. Certainly you don't feel the pinch.

This issue is about social impact, not individual's ability. The cost has a chain effect and spirals down to the poor.

Purple~Mushroom,

I had the same experience with MAS.

Toolan,

You should differentiate between social phenomena, political and economic phenomena.

I do agree with your points of contention but apportioning the blame to a single reason and putting the blame on a single source is incorrect and insidious. Let's segregate the issues and opine it according to its structure and its social impact, not blame everything on politics alone.

Russ Kühl said...

Mav,

Rich man? Sure. We all rich to be able to afford the Internet and time to bitch. I dun feel the impact cuz I dun travel for fun. If there is business to be done, then there is no choice. But business travels is ultimately recovered from sales.

Unlike, the chicken business, the airline industry do not have a monopoly on international travel. I can choose to travel Singapore Airlines (God forbid) or other regional carriers who offer less.

You may wanna highlight social issues with this piece but ever since the government decided that their investment in public companies are purely of financial in nature, there are no social issues. First we get rid of Khazanah and this GLC thinking, then we talk about the invisible hand in a 'free market.'

And those who promote company social responsibilities etc., I think better go back to school.

Companies are about profits. Social contributions and responsibilities only kicks in when they make too much money. 'Terasa malu.' Dun believe me, just ask Bill.

And I shall take your advise and ignore all the remarks and comments made not related to the issue at hand. Which is by the way, about when and what to bitch about.

PS. I do not think this will be a real issue if MAS was managed the old way. Upstairs would have told them to what to do before people start bitching about it.

Anonymous said...

Fuel surcharge has got nothing to do with fuel anymore. Is the same everywhere. Just another way to squeeze the people.

CK said...

haha... malaysian company policy is even better than viagra or cialis. it's only going up but never come down. i suggest Pfizer should learn a thing or two from them.

Helen said...

I don't agree the surcharge to stay when the oil price is down. TO say they need to uphold the price to boost their profit is BS. THe recent dip of oil price was not predicted so, were they expecting to operate at a loss before that? I don't think so.

I think TIger airline CEO was on TV a few days back. He was saying budget airlines can still make profit at $100 per barrel of oil. (he conceded above $150 is hard)

So, either these airlines are BS-ing or their mgt planning sucks.

KIMHO8 said...

I got nothing to say because "makan pun sudah tak cukup, macam mana nak makan angin di luar negeri lagi!"

Jefus said...

if u r going to Kuching, no choice,...

but if u r going abroad, why don't you let your money get you the better deal? Get some other airlines,...

when a large portion of M'sians keep this up, they will heed. Hit where it hurts, ..... the bottom line.

lucia said...

if the charges are going up and up and never down... stop flying! change your lifestyle!

to me this has no effect on my as i rarely travel by plane and rarely go out of the country. poor mah. if travel within country, it is always bus bus or train never plane.

Anonymous said...

I just read this today in the Star "Airlines cut fuel surcharges" (http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/13/business/2249344&sec=business)It's stated that MAS had already lowered its surcharge for certain customer sectors. I think things would be better.. just be optimistic :)

Anonymous said...

Mav,

I agree that NORMALLY I should separate these so call phenomena but again like I point out previously, in Malaysia, especially BN-UMNO..?? Common lah, when it involves GLC it no longer stay separate, it is one coz they are all someone's cronies.
If I were part of that "link", you think I will be here ranting about it, hey I would be one them at this very moment having a nice cigar and wine loh.
Raz - I agree with your point, maybe coz we are too disgusted too long with what is so called "free market"....

Maverick SM said...

Hasilox,

It's just about the lack of competition and the barrier of entry imposed.

CK,

I prefer viagra.

Helen,

You have a good comparative analysis.

KIMHO8,

It may not be makan angin; there are many students who studied in Sabah and Sarawak and also those who come from East Malaysia. They had to travel.

Jefus,

You are right; that's the point I am emphasizing: there are students traveling to East Malaysia and also those from the east coming to the Peninsula.

Lucia,

You may be right in a sense; what if you are studying in Sabah?

Toolan,

I understand your disgust; what I am concern is that it do us nothing good to acquire destructive narcissism.

Anonymous said...

http://www.jeffooi.com/2008/01/airasia_while_the_skirt_gets_s.php

Air Asia has put out call option of 150,000 per barrels for US$82.60 from Jan 2008 until June 2010. Air Asia now must pray hard that the oil goes below US$80 for contract already fulfill to cover the previous month loses.

If buyer bought all Air Asia 2008 options but NONE buying 2009 and 2010, AA still making a loses if the oil price does fall belows their hedging break even point.

Maverick SM said...

Marie,

Maybe you didn't read carefully; it says MAS lowered the cargo surcharge; I am still paying the same air fare.

Richard Loh said...

This is boleh land style, they always want to be different from others.

Just like this one. People calling for press freedom want to include false reporting, racist remarks and incite racial tension to be included in the freedom.

Freedom Of The Press, the way rockybru sees it.

Anonymous said...

oh I did read carefully, it stated MAS had already lowered its surcharge for "certain customer sectors", and this refers to its cargo fuel surcharges. Though it's not the air fare yet, at least they starts reviewing the fuel surcharges but not to look on unconcerned. so for consumers it's still a good sign lah.. be optimistic :)

Maverick SM said...

Richard Loh,

The Press has always being free to report anything, so long as it preserved and respect the ketuanan thing.

Marie,

Ya, I am positive; I am still paying the fuel surcharge based on the time when the crude oil was US$150. Now the crude is US$80 and the surcharge is still there. That's positive for MAS, not the passengers.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I travel back to Malaysia from Tokyo, I swear I will never use MAS. I will always travel by Cathay Pacific via HK. Although the route is longer, I feel more comfortable and secured. The fare is also cheaper than MAS. My experiences with MAS were just horrible. This blood sucking company will levy all kinds of charges whenever you want to make any change even though the ticket is a non-fixed or normal fare ticket. As for CX, you can just pop into the airport and they will allow you to board without any charges.
Spread the words; ask anyone to stop using MAS whenever there are alternatives.

Anonymous said...

how come.. it's totally different with my experiences with MAS.. traveling back and forth Malaysia and Australia for so many years, i'm satisfied with their service. so do my family. if compared to other premium airlines, MAS is still considered cheaper. anyway I hope that they will reduce the fuel surcharge too. same as AirAsia.

Maverick SM said...

Chen,

That's a good report and I hope many more people can come forward to testify to MAS's quality of service. Unfortunately, too many people had bad experiences.

I would love to hear more from more people as I am conducting a survey on MAS service quality.

Unknown said...

I flew to Hanoi with them last month, good service and punctual. I tried their web check-in, fast and convenient, save my time to wait long in the airport. The only complaint was the colour of its new seat covers, too colorful for me..

Maverick SM said...

Yap,

That's a good report.