New chief of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) Peter Bellew said that he would like to move part of the airline’s operations to KLIA2 to cut expenditures.

He has also promised to pass the savings from this move onto their customers in the form of lower fares.

“Airport costs will be an immediate focus and we are planning to operate some leisure flights from KLIA2 in 2017 where costs are lower by RM33 per passenger or RM5,412 per flight than the main KLIA terminal.

“With one flight daily, this will result in savings of RM1.975 million a year. We will pass these savings to customers with lower fares.

“Each and every cost will be minutely checked daily without affecting any quality,” Bellew said in a statement yesterday, which was also his first day on the job.

He also said that MAS will have a new website, mobile app, trade reservations sytem and airport equipment over the next 12 months.

MAS also wants to rebuild their relationship with the travel trade globally, he said, as well as starting new routes from various Malaysian airports to new unserved Asean destinations.

Another change in MAS, Bellew said, would be a significant investment in the digital experience when booking with MAS

“From choice of seats to the quality of nasi lemak to the time of travel, we need to ensure the needs of each guest with different individual preferences is met,” he said.

Bellew stressed that MAS would remain focused on the turnaround, and they want to focus on flying smarter, reducing cost and fixing all that needs to be done as well as ensuring a sustainable workforce.

“We will work to ensure we have a large group of Malaysians trained in the next three years who are capable of leading the airline through 2030,” he said.

‘Turnaround initiatives are working’

The turnaround initiatives were working he added, and that the performance indicators were on track with yield up by 23.4 percent and cost down by 32.9 percent for the first quarter (January to March 2016), along with their bottom line being ahead of budget

Bellew said that “saving money does not mean compromising on safety or on our products and services.

“It simply means we need to increase productivity and efficiency, invest in modern technology, enter into mutually beneficial partnerships besides identifying and mitigating risks early.”

However, he added, “We will stop doing things that lose money.”

“A lot has been done, the profit seen in the last quarter shows that the financial gap between revenue and cost has significantly closed, which tells us that we are on the right trajectory.

“We need to move quicker and more aggressively to keep up the momentum,” he said.

Bellew was appointed group managing director and CEO of MAS effective July 1, taking over from Christoph Mueller, who leaves the airline on Sept 1. Mueller is on leave from yesterday.

Mueller had decided to quit two years ahead of the end of his contract and is now said to be joining Emirates as its chief technology officer.