Malaysia Airlines on the road to recovery, says departing chief

Malaysia Airlines’ departing chief executive Christoph Mueller is happy to leave the carrier on a high note. Speaking to the Independent at the International Air Transport Association meeting in Dublin last week, Mueller confirmed that the restructuring effort – which saw the airline trim a third of its workforce, scrap unprofitable routes, and renegotiate supplier deals – has yielded positive results and Malaysia Airlines is ahead of schedule to be sustainably profitable by 2018. Having posted its first positive return in years (see here), the Oneworld member is now in a position to consider adding aircraft to its fleet. However, Mueller revealed that the airline is mainly considering narrow-body aircraft to boost its regional network. Malaysia Airlines’ hub in Kuala Lumpur does not suffer from capacity shortage, which means the carrier can afford to operate additional frequencies on routes – giving customers increased flexibility in terms of flight times. "Instead of flying to a destination once a day with an A330 which is a widebody, we could fly twice a day with a smaller aircraft," said Mueller. The Malaysia Airlines chief remained coy about his future plans once he departs later this year. "I've done these type of jobs now so many times, maybe I should do something else," he said. "I can go so far as saying it will be certainly aviation-related, but that's the only thing I can say. Stay tuned." For more information, visit malaysiaairlines.com Clement Huang