The elusive A319CJ VVIP Jet which Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB) purchased, delivered by Airbus December last year and sent to Basel, Switzerland for outfitting is now a Malaysian registered aircraft. It now uses the pennant no. 9M-NAA. It was first featured as a scoop in Berita MyKMU.net on 25 January 2007. Again, featured in this blog as “The plane, the plane” on 17 February 2007, the day this blog started.
Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied the aircraft was bought by the Government after the story hit sensation amongst Malaysians. Later, he explained PMB had bought the RM 200 million jet and not the Government.
However, something peculiar about the aircraft. The aircraft is donned in TUDM colours, exactly the same used by other VIP jets operated by No. 2 Squadron “Bayan”, based in TUDM Subang but it is not using the ‘M’ registration like the other TUDM aircrafts. Another peculiarity is that the aircraft will be operated, maintained and managed by a third party company. Brothers, a former B777 fleet manager with Malaysia Airlines and a former maintenance engineer with No. 2 Sqdn have formed a company to do the task.
Why the A319CJ VIP jet is being treated this way, no one is really clear. Why the aircraft is not operated, maintained and managed by Malaysia Airlines, the primary Government Link Company in aviation is also not so clear. When Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli managed Malaysia Airlines in the 90s, he ordered a BBJ at LIMA ’97, which was delivered in 2000 and operated by MAS Star, a subsidiary under Malaysia Airlines which provided charter VVIP jet. The Government chartered the use of this jet for the first time when DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang DiPertuang Agong went to Sydney for the 2000 summer olympics game.
*Note. The photo shows the A319CJ in German registered number, before it was outfitted in Switzerland.
*An update. This is the photo of the A319CJ in the new colour scheme, with the 9M NAA number.
The "thirteen million plus Ringgit" guy rambles.... 
Woah! A whooping 200 million for a jet?
Why TUDM? Like Air Force One lah, that’s why.
LATEST PHOTO OF THE PLANE BEFORE ITS FLIGHT TO MALAYSIA AT
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6030691&nseq=2
OBVIOUSLY THEY HAVE MADE SOME PAINT-JOB CHANGES
Apa dah jadi kpd Pak Lah. Ketika dilantik jadi PM harapan kebanyakan rakyat adalah sangat tinggi yg dia boleh jadi PM yg rapat dengan rakyat yg faham tentang kehendak serta aspirasi rakyat. Tetapi sayang dah lebih 3 tahun, dia agak menjauhkan diri dari rakyat, berlagak seperti “maharaja”, terbang kesini sana dengan pesawat Kerajaan termasuk ketika bercuti.
Apa dah jadi, Timbalan Menterinya bertelagah dengan KPN dan berani pula mengeluarkan arahan kpd salah seorang Pengarah PDRM utk membuat tangkapan, pada dasarnya satu tindakan yg salah.
Dengan pembelian pesawat ini membayangkan PL akan terus menjelajah seantero dunia memberi peluang kpd Najib mentadbir negara ( dengan diawasi oleh mereka di tingkat 4 dan menantunya KJ ). Pesawat ini mengelirukan – warna dan tanda adalah pesawat tentera tapi nombor pengenalan adalah pesawat sivil. Siapa pula yg menerbangkannya TUDM atau sivil?
Apa dah jadi Pak Lah pergolakan dan perkembangan dalam negeri kelihatan membimbangkan. Orang lain sedang sebok membuat persiapan sahingga sudah mula adakan kursus mengenal perlembagaan persekutuan. Apa muslihat apa gerangan, tetapi Pak Lah seperti tak ada apa apa aje.
Apa dah jadi Pak Lah!
tell me if i hv missed something but how can u spot numbers on the 2 aircrafts, german registered and the 9m NAA respectively?
When the aircraft was completed and sent to Basel in December 2006 for fitting out, it was still in original colours and registration no. (which is the German registered, D-AIDR). Since the aircraft has not been received by the end customer, it still bears the original manufacturing registered no. (it was made in Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany). Today, it changed colour and now its in Malaysian registered no. (9M NAA). Hence the difference.
Its the same aircraft. When it changes registration no like that, means the end customer already received it.
9M-NAA = Mari Naik, Abdullah Ahmad? 🙂
[…] PM’s aircraft is now in Malaysia [image] The elusive A319CJ VVIP Jet which Pen […]
can afford new jet, but not nuri for our servicemen, now lives are lost, families broken, i hope someone is damn please with themselves for this fine purchase!
Yes, unfortunately TUDM requirements like replacement program for S 61 Nuris, AEW/C and MPA/ASW have not been fulfiled, for the defense of the realm. Instead, Govt (through PMB) spent money in this A 319CJ purchase. Please refer the earlier scoop and article linked
ahh,ok so basically its their outlooks. thanks then.
BD,
Please check the ‘Jetphotos’ website which shows three pics of this aircraft at Toulouse, France timelined at 3rd/4th August ’07.
If it is true (as rumoured) that the Malaysian government have taken possession of the 9M-NAA in June (or July) plus AAB may have used it for his ‘down under’ holiday in July, why is the plane back in France recently?
Change in aircraft colours or more trials or ‘defective’ specifications?
Probably. It’s known that Airbus jets always have integration problems as the aircraft is fully fly-by-wire. That is why it is less popular, compared to B737s. The number of A319CJs are much lesser compared to BBJs.
captain: err… Houston, Houston..err..we got a problem.
Snipers (bloggers) spotted the plane!
4th floor (a.k.a Houston): re-direct plane to Ozzie. fast!
LOL
Guess what:
PMB employs 3 Ex-MAS Boeing 777 pilots to pilot the 9M-NAA. Not sure whether the pilots are seconded (pinjamkan frm MAS) or they resigned from MAS and paid by PMB to fly the 9M-NAA.
Its not here yet, actually. The latest colours may well meand that it will not be in the RMAF fleet, although this might be the exception to the rule. So far no VIP plane from the RMAF has been flown by anyone but from the air force. I assume that means that the aircraft will not be an official Malaysian government plane.
[…] ber”Korban”, melalui syarikat milik penuh Kerajaan, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad membelanjakan RM 200 juta sebuah pesawat eksekutif serba mewah baru sedangkan TUDM beroperasi dengan tiga buah pesawat eksekutif mewah lain […]
the plane is actually around 70 million USD