Review of SilkAir flight Singapore → Kuala Lumpur in Economy

Hi Flight Report Community,

My second attempt at a flight report, hopefully this'll turn out better than the first. Lets cut straight to the chase.

My routine flight home over a weekend to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from my work place in Singapore starts at Changi Airport. Yet again I scored an amazingly cheap fare with MH on this route for a decent departure and return time too,

Taken half day off from work so that I could make the journey at a leisurely pace.


Bus ride to the Metro or Subway.


Heading to Singapore Changi Airport. For the uninitiated, the most commonly spoken language in Singapore is English, everyone speaks English here, hence the language used for common signs. Public transport is the preferred mode of transportation for most Singaporeans as car prices are exorbitant in Singapore. A bog standard Toyota Corolla cost USD80k here and is beyond means of many.


Right to the end of the line.

FIDS in the train station. The metro takes you directly below Terminal 2 and 3 of Changi airport.


Up towards the departure hall


Christmas mood in full swing at Changi Airport Terminal 2, where MH departs


Nice to see more travelers having faith in MH after the twin incident.


My turn soon. My flight was scheduled for departure at 1725, however I was already at the airport at 1345. Ground staff for MH enquired if i wished to travel on an earlier flight which I agreed as it gives me the opportunity to avoid the Friday evening crawl in Kuala Lumpur;s motorways by arriving earlier. Thinking that they will be sending me on an earlier MH flight, it was to my surprise that I was instead led to the SilkAir counters whom MH had a code share agreement with for flights from SIN to KUL. My new flight MI330 was scheduled to depart at 1510, meant that I had only around half an hour left to grab lunch.


After clearing security and border control, I went in search of the SATS Premier Lounge. MH sends their business pax there as well ever since it closed its own Golden Club Lounge in Singapore.


Entering the lounge. Access granted through Priority Pass.


Overview of the Lounge, hot food and booze selection. There were plenty of seats available, however they were hardly empty with the endless stream of passengers coming in and out. Hot and Cold food selection was decent for a third party lounge, alcohol however was limited to one selection of beer, 2 whites, a red and some pretty standard hard liquor.


My fill for the afternoon. The noodle dish that you see is called Mee Siam, a popular rice vermicelli dish in Singapore with a stock made of shrimps and chilli pepper. I left around 20 minutes before departure time.


Maybe another day. In fact, I shall be there in 2 weeks time. Stay tuned for that report.


Heading towards the gate through a maze shopping options that Changi is famous for


Avgeek moment


Further security at the Gate.



Flight Details
Aircraft: 9V-SBG
Type: Airbus A319
Age: 6.5 years first flight 26 Feb 2010
Operating Code: MI 330
Scheduled Departure: 1510
Actual Departure: 1500
Flight Time: 55 minutes
Seat: 15F



Seat pitch in Eco was around 32" and very comfortable for such a short hop. Flight attendants were displaying the typical SQ related hospitality as we boarded, helping passengers load baggage on the overhead compartment and greeting everyone while boarding.


A measurement against my leg for reference. I am 180cm.


A quick look at our neighbour as we go into final preparations. Last of the baggage being loaded


Our neighbour taxis of as we push back


Doors closed 10 minutes before scheduled departure and we are off. No seat back IFE available on all Silk Air aircraft. Safety video being played as we push back.


However streaming of IFE is available through wifi. I did not partake as I was not able to get the app downloaded on my phone. Announcement was made of its availability despite the short flight.


Typical mid day bank of flights departing for North Asia during mid day at Changi. Queuing behind our larger brother for take-off. Yet again for the uninitiated, Silk Air is a fully owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and flies to regional destinations that does not require the capacity of the widebody only fleet that SQ has.


Taxiing and lifting off at around 1530 local time with a host of traffic behind us.


In flight service quickly begins after take off. For this short hop in Y, a choice of juice, coffee/tea or water is provided with a packaged refreshing towel.




As soon as the flight attendants are done with service, the First Officer comes on the PA announcing preparations for descent. We drop from FL320 straight into heavy clouds. Rain forecast-ed on arrival

Banks of decommissioned MH 772s in storage. The sight of them brings a tinge of sadness to me. Heartfelt for the souls lost in those fine aircraft.

The aircraft landed 5 minutes before scheduled arrival owing to our early departure. We then taxi towards the satellite terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport or KLIA in short. The satellite terminal is where all international flights depart from KUL barring MH narrow bodies. This airport was built in 1998 to coincide with Malaysia hosting the Commonwealth Games.

A large neighbour from Europe. It was PH-BVI, a 4.5 years old B77W owned by KLM who will carry on to CGK as KL809 on a fifth freedom flight. With the demise of MH routes to Europe besides London, and termination of LH and AF service to KUL, BA and KL has almost exclusive rights to direct travel between KUL to Europe. In fact KL flights were so popular that they launched another 3 weekly flight operated with a B789.


Last view of 9V-SBG while disembarking with a cameo by KL.


KUL shares the same space for arrival and departure since security is only performed at gate, similar to SIN.


Making my way towards the skytrains that connected the satellite terminal and the main terminal where border control is located.


Last view of the Satellite terminal before arriving into the main terminal


Exiting into a crowd waiting for flight arrivals. KUL is really showing at nearly 20 years old. A major renovation should be planned for soon otherwise the gateway to Malaysia would be another laughing stock soon.


Ticketing area for buses towards the city centre. KUL is almost 80km or 50 miles away from the city centre and there are 3 ways of getting there, either by train, taxi or an express bus. The bus is by far the cheapest option at USD3 compared to 15 for the train and 25 for a taxi.



This ends my report for this segment. The return shall be on MH so stay tuned.