MAS brand still relevant, says CEO
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail has come to the defence of the embattled national carrier amid criticism over its weak performance.
In an internal circular addressed to all employees on Saturday, Izham said the carrier continued to obtain accolades for its services and insisted that the brand still carried weight.
He said despite experiencing a “very challenging 2018”, MAS “managed to score substantial wins across the board”.
He said this included an increase in its customer satisfaction index and achieving solid operational stability last year.
He quoted an International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit, which recorded only four findings last year, compared with 110 in 2017.
He said this was a “remarkable turnaround” that the employees should take pride in.
He said the airline was, on Friday, conferred the Best Airline in Asia Award by the International Council of Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (Patwa), which is reputed to be one of the most coveted awards in the travel industry.
“Who are the outsiders to say that we have not done any good for the country?” he said in the circular, which has been shared on social media.
The circular has been verified as being from the airline.
Izham reminded MAS employees that the company had embarked on a plan in September to remodel the business.
He admitted that Khazanah chairman and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had been briefed about the plan, and the latter acknowledged challenges faced by the airline.
He said the MAS brand remained relevant despite the naysayers.
“We have data that supports this and we know that Malaysia Airlines, as the national carrier, has sealed its status as a national icon that all Malaysians resonate with.
“Yes, there are people out there who don’t believe that we will pull it off.
“All I can say is, more than ever, this is the time we need to be united and work towards one goal, giving your best to Malaysia Airlines,” said Izham.
On Thursday, the New Straits Times published a story quoting a MAS spokesman on how the carrier would continue with the second phase of its long-term turnaround plan in the face of many anticipated challenges.
This followed concerns raised about its survival following Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s announcement a day earlier on how the national carrier had accounted for half of Khazanah’s RM7.3 billion impairments last year.
Aviation analysts believed that MAS’ days as a national carrier were numbered as it failed to meet its three-year target to be profitable, but has instead been bleeding since it was privatised in 2014.