Call for group of experts to review Malaysia Airlines operations
KUALA LUMPUR: The government needs to set up a group of experts to review Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s current operations as the RM6 billion restructuring plan is deemed a failure.
Former chief executive officer and managing director of Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the sole owner of the airline, had since 2014 injected RM6 billion to support the entity’s five-year turnaround plan.
He said rather than making profit, the airline had recorded losses for three consecutive years, with a RM1 billion loss in the first year of the restructuring plan.
“They had failed from 2015 to 2017. We will know the results for this year by year-end. If it shows remarkable improvement from last year, then there is hope, but if they do just as badly this year, then the government must relook at the team.”
Aziz said Malaysia Airlines should, under the open skies concept, continue to operate as a worldclass airline.
“Malaysia Airlines should be flying more frequently into big markets like China, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
He went on to highlight that the airline’s extreme cash outflow was partly caused by the purchase of Airbus 380 aircraft, which was a bad investment.
Of the six doubledecker A380 superjumbos owned by Malaysia Airlines, he said only two were fit for operation, while the other four were on the Aircraft on Ground status, indicating a problem that was serious enough to prevent the aircraft from flying.
“We’ve got the wrong aircraft. It is not for us, in Kuala Lumpur, to use A380.
“The first production of those aircraft is still at the experimental stage. That’s why we are saddled with a lot of problems.”