“It’s not clear skies in 2018, but I see clearer skies in 2019.”

CAPT IZHAM ISMAIL, Malaysia Airlines group chief executive officer

MALAYSIA Airlines sees a much brighter 2019 with ongoing plans to grow its flight network amid a “very tough” current year.

Group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail said the first quarter of the year was competitive, but the airline managed to achieve its target.

He added that the rest of the year would see huge challenges, with the rising fuel prices and ringgit.

“The strengthening of the ringgit benefits us locally, but it does not benefit us globally,” he said.

Izham, the first former pilot to helm the airline, said the strategy for this year was to drive a stronger yield versus load factor, or revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK).

The airline achieved a 3.5 per cent higher RASK year-on-year for the first quarter, while ontime performance gained four per cent to 76 per cent.

Its customer satisfaction index also rose by four per cent.

“Our aspiration is not only to turn around the airline, but make it grow. I am very cognisant that we cannot grow as robustly as peers such as Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Etihad.

“My aspiration is to take this airline on a gradual sustainable growth tangent, targeting between three and four per cent growth over next two to three years,” he said.

From 2020 onwards, the airline could grow between four and six per cent by introducing new profitable destinations and increasing frequencies.

“We launched flights to Surabaya this year. This month, we are launching flights to Brisbane. We are flying to Sydney and Melbourne and we have increased the frequency of our flights to China.”

Izham said Malaysia Airlines was not a luxury or low-cost airline, but a premium one that embraced Malaysian hospitality.

“Malaysia Airlines feels very strongly that the product differentiating us from the rest of the world’s premium airlines is Malaysian hospitality, and that begins with us,” he said.

Izham said the fact that a lot of people were critical of the airline only showed that MAS represented Malaysia itself, and he certainly welcomed criticism as it would allow him and his team to make the necessary adjustments and corrections.

He added: “I am an ex-pilot, and I will make the necessary corrections to the flight plan. It’s not clear skies in 2018, but I see clearer skies in 2019. Like flying an airplane, if you hit turbulence, most people will cling to their seats and be scared. However, how to handle turbulence depends on the pilot”.