MAS to complete restructuring in five years’ time

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Airlines (MAS) is halfway through its RM6 billion restructuring exercise which is likely to be completed in five years’ time.

MAS chief executive officer ( CEO) Peter Bellew said the national carrier was working hard to cut costs, realign its fleet and expand routes.

“For the last eight months, we have been trying to sell a lot of tickets and get the brand name back out there publicly all over the world,” he said in a special interview programme with BNC’s Mikhail Raj Abdullah aired over Astro CH502, Hyppy TV, and MYTV, and posted on www. bernama.com.

The restructuring plan was put into place in 2015 during the time of his predecessor, Christoph

For the last eight months, we have been trying to sell a lot of tickets and get the brand name back out there publicly all over the world. Peter Bellew, MAS CEO

Mueller.

Bellew took over as MAS CEO on July 1, 2016, after Mueller left, citing personal reasons.

“We have been trying to develop new routes to China and here domestically within Malaysia.

“But most importantly, we want to put a bit of the pride back in the name and the brand of Malaysia Airlines,” he said.

Bellew said the airline, for many years, had been the symbol of pride and progression for the country.

“People liked the name Malaysia Airlines, they liked the brand, they liked the ‘wau’ (MAS kite logo) and everything else about it.

“So, we promoted the brand really hard everywhere and the many engagements we had with the media worked out very well. Our passenger numbers recovered dramatically in the second half of the year,” he said.

Bellew said the airlines’ current workforce is at 14,000 and it has started hiring people again. Turn to Page B2, Col 1