‘New recruitment move in line with expansion plan’

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAS) reportedly new recruitment exercise is seen as a positive move, thanks to the possibility of new routes and planes being planned by the airline.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) analyst Mohshin Aziz said the new recruitment was in line with the national carrier’s objective to expand its operations and become profitable again.

“There will be some people who will resign or retire on a yearly basis. The airline would need to recruit,” he told NST Business yesterday.

Mohshin said it was normal for airline or companies to hire more staff to improve their operations.

MAS chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail said the recruitment process was to offset the airline’s retrenchment rate of 16 per cent.

He said the airline group would give priority to applications from its 6,000 former employees if their skills were required.

“If the individuals were let go before September 2015 and have relevant skills, we will re-invite them to apply but they need to go through the same process as other applicants,” he said at the Training Partnership Agreement signing ceremony between Malaysia Airlines Academy Bhd and the International Air Transport Association, here, yesterday.

“We remain steadfast in maintaining a total of 14,000 employees for the group, of which 12,500 are for MAS.

“About 95 per cent of the 6,000 employees who left the airline have started new careers,” said Izham.

Another aviation expert said MAS cut many domestic flights last year due to price competition from budget airlines.

“MAS would require new hires for new routes and it might want to try more greenfield areas, possibly international routes,” said the expert.

The national carrier is currently recruiting skilled-employees such as analysts, captains, cabin crew, fleet managers and airline security, according to its website.

“MAS recently began a recruitment drive for pilots and cabin crew to fill current operational needs,” said the airline.

Since 2016, it has expanded its network by adding several destinations and increasing flight frequency, as well as expanding its widebody plane operations.

In earlier reports Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar expects MAS to break even in the second half of this year or the first half of next year.

He also said MAS was on track for a listing next year.

Khazanah is MAS’ sole owner. Meanwhile, Maybank IB’s Mohshin said Asia remained an important market for airlines as more than half of the world’s population was in the region.

“China and India are the big portions.

“The Asean region has more than 600 million people. These three regions are still at an early stage of growth with a lot of potential,” he added.