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Malaysia Airline May Have Foreigner Take Helm, Newspaper Says

Posted on: Sunday, 28 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 27--KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia Airline System is considering hiring a foreigner to take the helm of its operations as it seeks to overhaul the company, which has just reported its worst quarterly result in four years, the New Straits Times reported Saturday.

Quoting unnamed sources, the English-language daily said the state-owned flag carrier is looking at several big names to fill the managing director's post made vacant by the resignation of Ahmad Fuaad Dahalan earlier this week.

Among the potential candidates mentioned are British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington, Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti, Qantas Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg and Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Director General Andrew Herdman.

The daily said Khazanah Nasional, the government investment arm and Malaysia Airline's biggest shareholder, may look at hiring an expatriate for several years before the post is handed over to Executive Director Tengku Azmil Zaharuddin Raja Abdul Aziz.

"(He should be) a mentor for Tengku Azmil prior to taking the helm or someone fully independent to steer MAS away from further problems and more seriously to narrow the gap between strong carriers in the Asia Pacific," the paper quoted a source as saying.

"The gap between MAS and Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas is widening," the source was quoted as saying. "The foreign appointment will be seen as an attempt to narrow that gap and even bring MAS to a new level of competition with these big players.

"We have many marketing-based talent, but specific industry talent with an international view is seriously lacking."

Malaysia Airline had already begun taking some tough measures following the disappointing second-quarter earnings. It posted a loss of 280.7 million ringgit ($74.6 million) in the April-June quarter as fuel costs soared 58 percent and other operating costs also surged.

Fuaad was sent into early retirement and the company announced on Monday a restructuring plan aimed at generating 1 billion ringgit in profit within five years.

"What MAS needs now in terms of a managing director is someone to not only execute the cost-cutting measures well but also be able to strategize MAS' medium to long-term plan to enhance competitiveness internationally," the source was quoted as saying.

"That would require someone with great knowledge of the various international markets and their dynamics, and the geopolitical feel to know which markets to penetrate and how to strategically compete in markets such as China and India," the source said. "Also, there is an alliance membership issue that remains pending."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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BAB, BAY, QAN, TAWNF, SIAL, CPCAY,

Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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