KUALA LUMPUR: A storm might have hit Malaysia's second low-cost carrier (LCC), MYAirline Sdn Bhd, as its chief executive officer (CEO) Rayner Teo is believed to have tendered his resignation last week.
Business Times has learned that Rayner, who was appointed as the head honcho since the inception of MYAirline in November 2020, decided to step down from his position after the LCC's latest town hall session last Friday.
It was believed that last week's town hall session was the second in two weeks. It remains unclear on why the CEO had resigned but MYAirline had also recently lost a number of its top executives including its chief financial officer and chief commercial officer.
In a company circular sighted by Business Times, MYAirline's chief human resource officer, Yeoh Sai Yew has written that Rayner had resigned due to his health.
"With a heavy heart, we regret to inform that our co-founder and CEO, Rayner Teo, has stepped down from his role due to deteriorating health, effective Oct 7, 2023," he had written.
Yeoh also wrote that MYAirline's current chief operating officer, Stuart Cross will be the CEO for the interim period until the board of directors appoints a new CEO.
There were also talks that the carrier is facing financial issues as payments to its services providers, including Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) were either delayed or remain unpaid as at time of writing. Staff salaries were also not paid on time for several months.Business Times had contacted Rayner and MYAirline's spokesperson for clarification yesterday with no reply.
However, the spokesperson said comments would be given in due time. Sources said MYAirline's request to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore was denied recently due to airport slot constraint at Changi Airport.
The airline had also reduced its flight frequency for the Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport route to once a week, from four times daily, due to slot constraints.
It has stopped flying to Don Mueang International Airport currently also due to airport slot.
Business Times had first reported in May this year that Thailand is the budget carrier's first international destination after less than one year of operations in Malaysia.
"They (MYAirline) have also reduced the (flight) frequency to domestic destinations like Miri and Sibu for the winter schedule despite having more planes," sources said saying that the aircraft utilisation has been decreased due to frequency cuts.
Commercial airlines have two schedules that they follow – the summer schedule (from March to October) and winter schedule (from October to March).
Two weeks ago, MYAirline had announced the arrival of its 9th aircraft, an Airbus A320 with the registration 9M-DAN.
In June, Rayner had said the carrier plans to have 20 A320s by end-2023 and add Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam in its network.
He also said MYAirline is targeting to be a public listed company by 2026. Rayner holds two per cent shares of MYAirline while the carrier's top shareholder is Malaysian entrepreneur Datuk Goh Hwan Hua who owns the majority shares through two private companies, Zillion Wealth Bhd and Trillion Cove Holdings Bhd.Both companies own 88 per cent and 10 per cent of shares in MYAirline, respectively. /ends