KELANA JAYA: National carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) will reorganise its corporate structure to strengthen operations as part of its turnaround plan.
Chief executive officer Izham Ismail said the plan, which is part of its five-year Malaysia Airlines Recovery Plan (MRP), is currently being reviewed as there are many issues that has to be addressed before it can be implemented.
He said MAB will also decide on the re-listing of the national carrier on the local stock exchange after the second quarter of this year.
"We will look back whether MAB is ready for re-listing. We do not want to make an initial public offering (IPO) if the company is not fully prepared.
"There is a lot of tasks to handle and much scrutiny needs to be done. The second quarter of this year is the real potential indicator of Malaysia Airlines," he said after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between parent Malaysian Aviation Group (MAG) and the National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) in Kuala Lumpur today.
Also present were Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, MAG chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof and AADK director-general Datuk Dr Abd Halim Mohd Hussin.
Apart from the restructuring exercise, Izham said MAS would also rebrand itself. This exercise will basically retain existing brands and logos, but our product and service delivery will be distinctive.
"We know that in order to remain relevant in the marketplace, we must know how to price our products. It is clear that we are not a budget airline, neither a luxurious one – but we are in the premium category," he said.
In order for MAB to remain relevant, it needs to strengthen its brand marketing to be in line with its premium status. The airline expects to turn around its operations by the first half of 2019.
To further enhance the position of MAB as an international airline, Izham said the company also plans to launch two new route destinations this year.
The carrier is monitoring the development of the aviation sector in China and India as these two countries present huge potential for the company.
"China and India have great potential in the aviation sector and our focus is not only on the main terminals, but also the second terminals or the secondary airports.
"In addition, we also want to seriously develop a flight destination to Perth, Australia as the current challenge that we are facing is the lack of capacity – which demands for new assets.
"It is expected to be strengthened and ensured sustainable growth through the addition of six Airbus A330-200 wide body planes.
"The new aircraft can help MAB to further expand our routes to Perth and some other major destinations," he said.
Among other routes that will use the aircrafts are Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Shanghai, Denpasar and Auckland.
On November 30 2017, MAB received the first Airbus 350-900 aircraft from Air Lease Corp.