Malaysia Airlines (MAS) today announced the resignation of its director of commercial Hugh Dunleavy, effective Aug 31, 2015.

In a statement, it said a search to identify a suitable successor, both internally and externally, was being conducted.

In the meantime, chief executive officer Christoph Mueller will take over responsibilities as chief commercial officer effective June 1, 2015 to ensure a smooth transition until an individual has been identified for the role, the airline said.

Dunleavy was effectively leading revenue management at MAS and is widely thought to be behind the ‘load active, yield passive’ strategy which sought to maximise the filling up of planes through dropping air fares.

This effectively raised MAS’ load factor, a measure of capacity utilisation, at the expense of yield which is a reflection of fares. The strategy did not work well at MAS which saw profits falling even as load factors climbed.

- Bernama