Foreigner to head MAS and oversee restructuring exercise, reports say
The Malaysian Insider – 9 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
- Foreigner to head MAS and oversee restructuring exercise, reports say
A foreigner is set to head Malaysia Airlines (MAS) as its chief executive officer and will be tasked with overseeing the company's restructuring as well as its performance over the next five years, media reports said today.
This will be the first time the airline will be having a foreigner as a CEO.
A report in The Star said it was learnt that Khazanah Nasional Bhd, MAS’s major shareholder, had given its tacit agreement to the candidate.
The move is seen as a signal to the various stakeholders that Putrajaya is going all out in its efforts to make MAS strong and sustainable.
“The candidate is among three shortlisted. He is a person from the airline industry... not somebody from outside the industry,” The Star report quoted a source as saying.
“Apart from the CEO, MAS will also hire another five or six key personnel who are knowledgeable in specific areas of the industry to cut costs.
“For instance, in the area of engineering, which is a major cost centre, a person will be hired to guide the committee on how to rationalise cost without impacting services,” the source said.
The Cabinet, on August 27, had approved the restructuring plan put forward by Khazanah for the airline which, among others, would see up to 6,000 jobs cut.
The restructuring plan was deemed necessary as MAS had been suffering financial losses for years.
The Malaysian Insider had reported that the plan also includes roping in top foreign executives to help turnaround the national carrier as part of the massive revamp exercise – the latest plan since the Wide Asset Unbundling (WAU) exercise of 2002 – a year after Putrajaya bought back MAS from tycoon Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli.
Apart from staff cuts, the RM6 billion restructuring exercise will also see the flag carrier dropping unprofitable routes and scaling down flight frequencies as well as reviewing lopsided contracts signed with various stakeholders.
Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar had also said that a new company would be set up to house the carrier once it completes its delisting exercise by the end of this year.
Current CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya will continue to lead until July 2015 when the new company comes into force.
If everything goes as planned, MAS will be relisted within three to five years, or between the end of 2017 and 2019, and Khazanah will embark on a sell-down or partial sell down of its stake.
Last week, MAS had appointed Mohd Nadziruddin Mohd Basri as the chief restructuring officer (CRO) in charge of the Restructuring Management Office.
The Star report said one of the reasons attributed to the previous failed restructuring of MAS was that a non-airline person had been put in charge to drive operations.
“Now the committee in charge of the restructuring is making sure every key post is handled by a person from the industry. If there is no expertise locally, then foreigners will be hired,” the report quoted a source as saying.
It is learnt that the contract terms for the new appointments will be based on a three-year period, with a two-year extension period.
“The first three years are to fix the problems and put the structure in place. The subsequent two years are to make sure they deliver the results for MAS.
“Previously, the appointed people gave solutions but were not held accountable to see it through. Now, that is what the board wants,” said a source.
The Star report said among the top jobs that will see key personnel coming in are in areas such as chief information officer (CIO) and a new person for engineering. – October 7, 2014.
