Malaysian corporations bidding for UK Stansted Airport

Malaysia may be a small nation but Malaysian corporations have acquired huge assets in other countries. Following last year's acquisition by the SP Setia-Sime Darby-Employees Provident Fund consortium of the Battersea Power Station project, yet another bid has been made to acquire another iconic UK asset, the Stansted Airport, the third busiest in London and fourth busiest in Britain.

YTL Corp Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) are putting together a firm bid for London's Stansted Airport in an 80:20 equity structure, sources told StarBiz, confirming earlier reports.

The low-cost carrier terminal is being offered for sale by UK airports operator Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, formerly BAA, to satisfy competition concerns after a four-year battle with regulators. The reported figure is £1bil (RM5bil).

More: The Star.. YTL, MAHB in combined offer for RM5b UK airport

The Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games

In a few hours, the London 2012 Olympic Games will come to a close. The Closing Ceremony promises to be an extravaganza of singing, dancing and silliness - a spectacular party, the best ever the organizers assured.

The Closing Ceremony is scheduled for 9pm BST which works out to be at approximately 4am Malaysian time, August 13. I believe on Astro, ESPN Channel will be telecasting it live. You can also watch it live-streamed on the Official Olympic Channel.

More information here on the Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Warm welcome home for Lee Chong Wei

Badminton hero, Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia's silver medallist Olympian was warmly welcomed home at the KL International Airport yesterday.

Waving flags and banners, over 400 fans gathered at the airport as early as 4.30am to wait for his arrival to show their appreciation for putting up a good fight in Sunday's badminton final.

Among those at the airport were a delegation from the Youth and Sports Ministry, as well as students from Bukit Jalil Sports School who described Chong Wei as their "idol".

Chong Wei thanked everyone for their support "but I am disappointed not to bring home the gold."

More: The Star..Warm welcome home for Chong Wei

MAS flights in and out of Heathrow to be retimed due to poor weather

The Star reported that Heathrow Airport cancelled 30% of its flights Sunday to cope with heavy snowfall overnight and possible freezing fog at Europe's busiest passenger air hub.

The airport has worked out a revised flight schedule for Sunday with all airlines to minimise disruption caused to passengers by the poor weather as a result of heavy overnight snowfall.

Two MAS flights affected include its MH4 flight on Sunday, which was scheduled to depart KLIA for London at 10.45am. It has been re-timed to depart at 5.35am Monday (Feb 6) and arrive in London at 11.05am the same day.

“The return flight MH1 of Sunday, scheduled to depart London Heathrow for KLIA at 10pm, has also been re-timed to depart at 1.50pm Monday, and arrive at KLIA at 10.10am Tuesday.

“Customers are advised to log on to www.malaysiaairlines.com and view the UK travel alerts' updates or call Malaysia Airlines' 24 hours toll-free number 1300 88 3000 (within Malaysia) or +603 7843 3000 (from outside Malaysia) for the latest information on this situation,” the statement added.

Heathrow closure - MAS flights in and out of London disrupted

The Star reported that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights to and from London have been disrupted due to the closure of Heathrow Airport.

In a statement on Sunday, the airlines said the affected flights were MH3 (London to Kuala Lumpur), MH4 and MH 2 (KL-London).

Flight MH3 is stranded in London and has been re-timed to depart on Sunday at 12pm (London time). This is pending the re-opening of Heathrow while MH4 which left on Saturday has been diverted to Frankfurt.

Full article..

AirAsia X - daily direct flights to London Stansted

With AirAsia X flying daily to London Stansted come July 1, Kuala Lumpur has become a regional hub connecting three continents. Australians can now fly into Kuala Lumpur and onward to London. Right now, AirAsia X has flights to London Stansted five times a week.

From yesterday to tomorrow, one-way fare is being offered for as low as RM499 at www.airasia.com. Travel period is for between July 3 to Jan 31 next year.

From Kuala Lumpur, there is a choice of over 122 AirAsia routes.

Source: The Star..Daily flights between KL-Stansted from July

RM499 to fly to London

Who would have thought air travel could be so affordable. Air Asia has made it possible to fly from Kuala Lumpur to London at only RM499.

Malaysians flying to London will also pay RM499 for the return flight while travellers from London going to KLIA will pay £99 (RM541) for the return ticket.

Online bookings opened at 8pm Tuesday (Malaysian time) for the five-times-a-week direct flights which will be for the travel period between March 11 and Oct 24.

Fares start from as low as £99 (RM499) for economy seats and £549 (RM1,999) for XL seats – inclusive of airport taxes and charges.

The latest flights will use Airbus A340 planes which will have 286 economy and 30 premium seats.

Source: The Star..It’s RM499 to fly to London on AirAsia X