A house-cleaning exercise appears to be taking place at Malaysia Airlines (MAS), as the loss-making airline undergoes a major shake-up in its top ranks.
In mid-February, MAS, which in the second half of the last calendar year had a debt of 11.8 billion ringgit ($3.1 billion) and was in the red by $115 million in the fiscal first half, decided to shed its managing director and two board members.
In an announcement to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange, the airline said that Ismail bin Adam had resigned as a director and as a member of the audit committee.
Two days later, managing director Wan Malek bin Ibrahim took three months' leave. He opted for early retirement, MAS says, although he will continue to serve as a company director. No replacement had been named at presstime.
Wan Malek's and Ismail's resignations followed the resignation of another director, Haji Tengah, on 9 February . MAS has declined to comment on the resignations, except to claim that all is well within the airline. Analysts, however, say MAS appears to be lacking in direction and is dragging its feet over badly needed changes, such as a reduction in the workforce and more transparency to investors.
The carrier says it has been restructuring its operations since 1994 and that efforts are being stepped up, with management "looking at overall work processes which will result in the national airline becoming stronger and leaner". Wan Malek has not commented on the reasons for his departure. Some say he left because the slow-moving restructuring had reduced the number of senior executives reporting to him.
Source: Airline Business
