Following the news that Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAS) would be losing their second chief executive officer in three years, the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) has expressed its lack of confidence in Khazanah Nasional Berhad’s plan to resuscitate the airline.

The national sovereign wealth fund had put in place a 12-point recovery plan for the airline when it became the airline’s sole shareholder in 2015.
Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin said today that MAS CEO Peter Bellew’s departure, effective Dec 1, was more proof that the fund’s efforts to save MAS have been futile.

“We are not confident with Khazanah's restructuring plan (because) it looks like everything they have done (for MAS) does not seem to work - from its Widespread Asset Unbundling (WAU) plan to its Business Turnaround Plan (BTP) put forward by (former MAS CEO) Idris Jala.

“We hope (the) government reviews Khazanah's way of managing MAS.

“If Khazanah can't do it, the government should remove them from being in charge and give the airline back to either the Ministry of Finance or MAS itself,” he said in a press conference at the union’s secretariat in Subang Jaya today.

In April, Bellew (photo) had said that MAS was mid-way through its recovery exercise, expected to be complete by 2022.

Ismail also expressed concern over how Khazanah, MAS and even Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai appeared to have been caught off-guard by Bellew’s decision, that was first reported in the Irish press.

“Saying that nobody knew is unacceptable, we deserve an answer because more than RM6 billion in taxpayer’s money has been used to save MAS, and now to buy new planes.

“Khazanah should be responsible, it must answer for all this crises,” he added.

'Something is not right’

Ismail also questioned if Bellew’s decision to leave, coming just 15 months after his appointment in July last year and thus possibly breaking his employment contract with MAS, pointed at problems within the airline.

“He promised to help MAS and previously made a lot of statements about it. He even picked up some local terms to endear himself to the Malaysian public.

“But after the announcement that MAS will be getting more planes, he announced his departure.

“Something is not right in the storyline... does he know something about MAS that he is not telling us?” he asked.

During his visit to the US last month, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak pledged that MAS would purchase between US$10 billion to US$20 billion worth of aircrafts from Boeing, raising concerns as to whether the airline was deviating from its recovery plan.

Bellew’s unexpected move had also fanned speculation that Khazanah had been “micro-managing” of MAS. Both Khazanah and Bellew have since dismissed this.

In his explanation about his sudden departure, Bellew said that Irish airline Ryanair, his previous employer, had contacted him with a chief operating officer offer that he could not refuse.

“It is Ireland’s greatest company. They need my help and there is a big challenge. It is a form of national service,” Bellew had said.