Last MH91 MAS flight out of New York

The 19-hour MH91 flight which took off from New York to Kuala Lumpur at 10pm on Thursday was Malaysia Airlines’ farewell flight from the Big Apple as Malaysia’s national carrier has decided to suspend its Kuala Lumpur - New York route from Oct 1 due to a drop in demand following the global economic crisis.

As the plane prepared for take-off from the Newark Airport, it was given a water salutation normally reserved for aircraft making their debut at an airport.

Onboard were a total of 188 passengers including eight members from the Malaysian national darts team who had just won a bronze medal at the World Darts Championship in North Carolina.

With the suspension of this KL - New York direct flight, direct access to the US has now been reduced to just the KL - Los Angeles flight.

The New York - Kuala Lumpur flight has been operating since 1998, initially transiting in Dubai and since Nov 2004, in Stockholm.