MAS has announced it's new CEO after a global search for one. After 14 years of failure, Khazanah Nasional finally learned that it takes an Airliner to run an Airline.
It cannot be run by a Bank CEO (except for the interim period to effect the financial rationalisation) or a salesman or marketing man, or an Oil and Gas man part timing as Power Point salesman, or an Accountant from PW London or an ex CEO of an IPP company.
The new CEO for MAS newco will be the current CEO of Aer Lingus, Christoph Mueller. It was announced yesterday as Khazanah's new surprise. [Read Reuters report in Irish Times here.]
From his name, he sounds German but not much is known of him yet. Not much is known yet of what he had done at Aer Lingus. And not much is known yet of the relevence of his experience at Aer Lingus to turnaround MAS.
Since MAS was one of the major global player in world aviation, Malaysians may not be familiar with the name Aer Lingus. For sure, it is not part of a woman anatomy.
Walking on air
Naturally Malaysians would ask as to why pick a foreigner? This is ot the first time. Many previous attempts have been made but the foreign CEO ended designated with different assignment. Their presence have not shown any turnaround.
One would only expect Khazanah being labelled of having a mindset still beholden and subservient to the orang putih colonials. Or, as one Penangite in our WA group described, Khazanah people as OPPM for Orang Putih Pungkoq Hitam or similar to banana to describe Singaporean, yellow outside but white inside.
All the while Khazanah is known more as a close knit of in-breeding bunch of CFA and CPA with absolutely no knowledge of business or operations, but just number crunchers, balance shit shufflers, and consumer of celebrity management guru books. That's why Khazanah loves to sponsor talks.
Airline business really suit them well. Just like some politicians after holding post in government for a while, they stop walking on solid ground but start to walk on air.
At least now, there is an airliner who should be doing things not according to management textbook theories but with actual knowledge and experience in airline practices and norms before doing something extraordinary or out of the ordinary.
Airline management require hard and soft skills in balancing between high technology of aviation and customer service similar to hotel service of three star and above. Maybe the soft side skill is not relevant for low cost airlines because passengers are willing to be treated like livestock shipped from Australia to Port Klang.
One member of our WA group quipped that a conman can still run a successful low cost airline. That is a good one.
The conman he is referring to is notable as a salesman and spokesman with skills in the art of gimmick but the underlying brain is the ANSARA member and his financial model. Their real test of a model based on a hollow pyramid of rising PE will come as they weather the upcoming economic storm.
Jentayu Danaraksa
Another issue raised this morning was why the OPPM at KLCC refused to take up Tan Sri Aziz Abdul Rahman's Jentayu Danaraksa's proposal. Heard the proposal is along MAS outsourcing plan and is for the engineering unit, Firefly and others. It sounds interesting to hear them want to save the 6,000 job.
It is not so much his attempt to impress a celebrity to replace a troublesome relation with former TV celebrity with his MAS proposal. But, this control freak used to go around claiming himself as Director of Investment Banking at MIMB when the post only exist after he left and given to an ex-Maybank.
He faked an unregistered NGO to tag along wherever Tun Mahathir and Dato Mukhriz but at MOE, he directed bloggers to take stabs at Tun M when he opposed the cancellation of PPSMI.
Jentayu Danaraksa has another personality who is an aviation analyst. Has he run any aviation company?
Thus far, not much is known of their proposal. The key issue is the money and management. MP for Titiwangsa, Dato Johari raised the money issue in Parliament. As far as Tan Sri Aziz, he is too old to do day to day management. So what that the union support?
In MAS, one cannot trust the unions. They had been one of the key factor in MAS downfall. Part of the reason to have a MAS newco was to bust the unions. That we agree.
Heard Tan Sri Aziz is also involved with another effort. Not much is known yet except that it has the concurrence of one Khazanah officer and involves several ex-MAS Managers.
Save for what had been said, Khazanah seemed to be listening. They took in Celcom's Dato Shazally Ramli on the Baord and given ex-MAHB Chairman, Tan Sri Bashir a role likely to appease the leaving staff.
However, they should rid off the Chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Nor Yusof and more Directors from Tun Abdullah era. How could they keep the same bunch of failures around?
It is the same with Khazanah's textbook thinkers who strongly believed in out-sourcing which keep failing for the last 14 years. Have they not learned from the failure to our-source catering and IT?
It is heard that MAS turnaround is a goldmine for lots of consultants. Not so much a case of being obtuse, but as told earlier, it only shows Khazanah know nuts of operations and are incapable of doing any operational turnaround.
"Gerd" Muller?
Was Muller taken in because he agrees with the approach taken by Khazanah or he convinced Khazanah with a better turnaround strategy? And, can he be the "Gerd" Muller to score goals of rising revenue?
It is sickening to keep listening of endless cost cutting program to translate the revenue into profitability.
A quick reference to Wikipedia here shows Aer Lingus is not a part of the woman anatomy. It is similar to MAS in the sense that both are national and legacy airline. It is older than MAS and had been around since 1936. Both had undergone its period of expansion, success and decline.
Aer Lingus was listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange in 2006. Soon after, another Irish airline, the low cost Ryan Air launched a takeover bid in October 2006. It was blocked by EC's version of anti trust regulation. Both Aer Lingus and Ryan control 80% of flight in and out of Dublin.
As all legacy airlines, Aer Lingus was affected by globalisation and open sky. In 2008, they begin a cost saving plan. Muller came on board in 2009 to undertake a more radical cost cutting and was adamant to cut more. Maybe that is where he fit in into Khazanah plan.
Muller came to Aer Lingus from TUI Travela and Sabena.
At Aer Lingus, he made unions to agree to his cost cutting plan. He moved away from a head-to-head competition with Ryanair for a more hybrid model with a stronger emphasis on service.
Customer service had always been MAS strength and forte until some turnaround idiot see MAS Academy as cost leakage. The current HR Director, Zaharah Zaid hired someone whose idea of training is to outsource to fellow cronies.
Mueller undertook long haul expansion, wet lease agreement, and alliance back to Oneworld.
Since Muller entry into Aer Lingus, Ryan did two more takeover bids in 2008-2009 and 2012. MAS-Air Asia "collaboration' failed in 2012.
34 comments:
Let's hope this Lingus guy is Cunning.
Left to be seen when Irish eyes are smiling, will Malaysian eyes be crying?
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has never employed a foreigner as it's CEO/Managing Director.
All it's CEO/MDs have been Singaporeans.
Of course, there are a number of foreigners on SIA's Board of Directors.
And SIA, an erstwhile sibling of MAS from the MSA days, is arguably a success in the cut throat world that is the global aviation industry.
So, how did SIA manage to get it right and MAS to get it so wrong (to the tune of billions of ringgit in public funds)?
The short answer is that the Singapore government treated SIA as a commercial profit-oriented business that is key to supporting Singapore's status as a premier aviation hub (which is what Changi Airport is also tasked to do).
MAS became the proxy for all sorts of agendas and the plaything of vested interests.
The airline is now reaping the consequences.
We are concerned because MAS is our national flag career. Otherwise we dont give a damn because its just a private matter.
We have all type celeberities in Malaysia. Talk a lot but nothing done; of course, we refer to political celeberities mostly on the oppostion's camp and a few in pro gov. sectors. Will MAS again produce their own core coporate celeberities ?
Hope they have a better proposal and a firm decision.
Anon 1.07: will the luck of the irish turn the malaysian gold (mas) to 24k gold or fools gold?
CEO MAS Yang Baru Pernah Pulihkan Syarikat Penerbangan Lain Dalam Setahun Sahaja
CEO MAS Yang Baru Pernah Pulihkan Syarikat Penerbangan Lain Dalam Setahun Sahaja
KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Dis (Bernama) — Rekod prestasi Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) syarikat penerbangan nasional Ireland, Aer Lingus, Christoph R. Mueller yang cemerlang, menjadikannya tokoh paling tepat untuk memulihkan Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS).
Bagaimanapun, bukan satu tugas yang mudah bagi beliau di MAS, meskipun telah berjaya memulihkan masalah kewangan syarikat penerbangan Jerman, Lufthansa, memandangkan masalah kompleks yang dihadapi oleh penerbangan negara sejak bertahun.
Ini termasuk kerugian besar berjumlah RM576.1 juta bagi suku ketiga berakhir 30 Sept, serta persaingan sengit dalam industri penerbangan terutamanya daripada syarikat penerbangan tambang rendah.
Di samping itu, beliau perlu memulihkan penjenamaan MAS berikutan tragedi MH370 dan MH17, masing-masing berlaku pada pada 8 Mac dan 17 Julai lepas.
Sementara itu, dalam satu kenyataan pada Jumaat, Khazanah Nasional Bhd berkata Mueller telah melaksanakan proses pemulihan korporat Lufthansa antara 1994 dan 1999 sebagai Naib Presiden Kanan bagi pengurusan rangkaian dan perancangan korporat.
“Warga Jerman itu yang merupakan CEO Aer Lingus sejak 2009, mempunyai pengalaman lebih 25 tahun dalam sektor penerbangan, logistik dan pelancongan.
“Di bawah penyeliaan beliau, Aer Lingus menceburi pasaran dan model perniagaan baharu. Syarikat berjaya memperbaiki kedudukannya daripada hanya model perniagaan dengan perniagaan kepada model perniagaan dengan pengguna membabitkan pengedaran 90 peratus dalam talian,” kata kenyataan itu.
Pada 1999, Mueller beralih ke Sabena S.A, yang merupakan sebahagian daripada Swissair Group, sebagai Ketua Pegawai Operasi sebelum menjadi CEO Sabena Group.
“Mueller membangunkan siri rancangan untuk disesuaikan dengan pemegangan saham kerajaan Belgium termasuk program pengurangan kos utama.
“Secara keseluruhan, beliau mempunyai pengalaman kira-kira 10 tahun sebagai ketua eksekutif di bahagian dan kumpulan dalam sektor penerbangan, dan juga mempunyai pengalaman yang luas dalam lembaga pengarah, termasuk dalam sektor pelancongan,” kata kenyataan itu.
Mueller akan dilantik sebagai CEO syarikat baharu MAS, berkuatkuasa pada 1 Jan, 2015, dan bakal menyertai lembaga pengarah pada suku kedua tahun depan.
– BERNAMA
--------------------------
Looks impressive but what's the cost? How much is his package? Any guarantee of success???
Another foreigner to save National flag, no Malaysian?? Oh ye Ah Gib and all the foreign consultants around him. Easy way out just sell MAS for RM1 to Air Asia and live happily ever after. Sigh another legend in the making.
He couldn't take it anymore when Aer Lingus chose Nissan Latio as company car.
Racism and biasness in favour of chinese was bad enough under idris jala.
Under mat salleh and a heartless german, it will be worse.
Will see him the same happening in the hotel industry with foreigners taking up positions and locals only serve as gardeners and maids.
No different with booze allen, mckinsey, apco and various consultants brought in by pemandu and khazanah. This time it is a person.
This is aristocrat Najib's version of nation building. Orang asing diutamakan, sekolah cina didahulukan.
How come the gomen did not sack the whole lot of khazanah people, who after near 12 years of pissing all over mas, brought it down to this current sorry state.
And what is worse, takde seorang pun orang khazanah mengaku yang mereka telah gagal, dan letak jawatan.
Memalukan negara.
Hahaha.. I like...
Just could not resist that ..can u?
Anon 11:49 PM
How come no one has asked Tun Dr Mahathir why the government privatised MAS to Tajudin Ramli and subsequently bailed him out by buying back his stake in MAS?
How come nobody can explain why SIA is successful while MAS has been screwing up time and again?
How come nobody can explain why MAS cannot compete successfully in the global aviation industry?
How come the best non-Malay talent in MAS left to join other airlines? Did the "affirmative action" policies screw up MAS, because in the aviation industry, it's management skills, cost control and marketing that count, not race or religion!
Malaysian have many good talents, but they are unable to overpower the politicians and cronies that milked MAS over the years.
This Mat Salleh should also ask for another condition in his contract, these people to stay out of their business for good.
Anon 10:48 PM
If the "locals" can exert themselves to study hard, become fluent in English and equip themselves with the right skills, the good jobs will be there for them.
Assuming, of course, that the government does it's part and makes the country attractive for foreign investments and that it soft pedals issues of race and religion.
/// Singapore Airlines (SIA) has never employed a foreigner as it's CEO/Managing Director.
All it's CEO/MDs have been Singaporeans. ///
Slight correction there - splitting a bit of hairs.
Its CEO/MD was Dr Cheong Choon Kong - a foreigner. A Malaysian, to be sure. Or, rather, an ex-Malaysian.
See, who says Malaysia has no talent? It is just that there are not being gainfully/strategically employed. They were thrown out and Singapore has been at the receiving end. So many of the top echelons in Singapore's civil service, GLCs, Members of Parliament and even ministers are ex-Malaysians.
lama dah tak gelak kuat2
that lingus guy.....cunning
give the fela #$% a chance
The 2:09 PM
Yup, Dr Cheong C K was a Maths lecturer at UM before he quit and moved to Singapore.
And he wasn't "parachuted" into the top job at SIA. He joined the airline as a senior staff and worked his way up the ranks to the top job.
Along the way, he became, I think, a Singapore citizen.
And he stepped down at the right time to allow another SIA "home grown" talent to take over the reigns. Which is what succession planning is all about.
Dr Cheong, incidentally, went to become the Chairman of OCBC Bank, one of the big 3 Singapore local banks.
Contrast this with the "revolving chairs" of MAS's chief executives.
Where was the talent identification and succession planning in the national flag carrier?
Politicians and power brokers in the airline's unions were allowed to call the shots.
No one bothered to keep an eye on what competitors were doing and how the global aviation industry was developing.
Tun Dr Mahathir is right in a sense when he castigates Malaysians as being "stupid" in not being able to run an airline successfully and profitably.
Of course, Tun wouldn't want to comment on SIA!
See the jealous politician today...all not happy with the appointments. Looks like they themselves (politician) can turn around MAS. What is wrong of hiring a foreigner to run the company? If they have the talent and if they can do it, then learn from them. Dont be afraid to learn from others.
MAS can only be turn around without the politician involve. If they're involve then many billions will be gone again.
Khazanah....DO IT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR!
dont know why khazanah's failure becomes cina-melayu punya story pulak.
khazanah pun ramai cina lah. satu malaysia.
nak compare dengan sia pun tak ada menafaat. singapore has been a confluence of people/business/finance/travel/laundering for centuries.
bila orang nak travel, you bagi dia transport lah. so singapore mudah buat sia berjaya. no doubt, orang singapore pandai belaka. hmm.
but malaysia ada banyak issue juga yang nak diperbaiki dan dibangunkan. for one, malaysia MUCH bigger than singapore. so an airline has a strategic role to unite its lands. bukan buat untung aja. sia does NOT have to fly to kota baru, alor setar etc. its a tiny island, fyi.
of course lah it cannot rugi, thats what the issue is here. and the culprit now, we think, is khazanah. cannot be blameless, please.
as to blaming tun m/tajudin ramli, lepas 15 tahun, takkan kita tak faham2 lagi ? i have yet to hear obama blame bush for iraq/afghan.
cukup lah nak blame aja. khazanah had a FREE hand lepas tu. so how come gagal lagi ?
Orang Malaysia memang bodoh, Tapi orang Khazanah penyamun bijak. Tak kan nak blame politician yang sememang nya bodoh. Orang Malaysia yang pandai di ketepikan sebab takut kaduk naik junjung, takut juga tahu nanti apa penyamun khazanah sudah buat dalam MAS. Nah kan ini Khazanah budak terlalu pandai yang udah pandai menipu dengan licik sampai PM pun boleh ketawa sebab kena tipu.
Nak kata sejarah Tun dan TR memanglah hakikat Tun nak tolong Melayu jadi bisniss man kapal tebang, tapi dia pun tebang bulu MAS sampai togel.
Tapi tak lah seteruk Khazanah yang belasah bukan bulu je tapi sampai ketulang pramugari.
Looks like Air Asia will have to be on their toes for this guy may try to save MAS at the expense of Air Asia!
And he has the Government behind him!
Anon 11:43 PM
Your comments are basically absurd.
Yes, Singapore is a business and financial hub (cue in accusations of "money laundering").
But Singapore didn't rest on it's laurels, goyang kaki and adopt a "syiok sendiri" mindset.
Recall that when Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia, there were those in Umno who rejoiced that Singapore wouldn't survive on it's own and would have to come crawling back to beg to be part of Malaysia again.
That didn't happen, did it?
Recall that Dr Mahathir, when he was the PM, had this strange notion of wanting to "sideline" and "marginalise" Singapore.
Again, that didn't happen, did it?
And so it was that SIA and Changi Airport continued to grow and prosper, regional competition notwithstanding.
And it's an argument that defies logic that an airline has to do "national service" by operating unprofitable domestic and rural routes, and that it has to be subsidised with public funds to do so.
Did the British government require BOAC (the predecessor of British Airways) to operate unprofitable routes in the UK?
Did the Australian government require Qantas to operate unprofitable routes in the Australian continent?
Did the US government require Pan Am and the other US airlines to operate unprofitable routes in the continental US?
The answers to all of the above are "no".
Again, did the British, Australian and US governments interfere in how their " flag carriers" set their fares?
The answer, not surprisingly, is "no"?
So, why is Malaysia and MAS an exception?
Is it because the "bumiputera agenda" takes precedence over every other consideration, including sound business logic?
It is also cavalier to dismiss the Tajudin Ramli episode in MAS as a mere footnote in history.
Tell me - in which other country did the government privatise the national flag carrier to an individual and subsequently buy out that individual's stake in the airline at a not inferior price?
Air India? Japan Airlines? Garuda? Philippine Airlines? Thai Airways? Royal Brunei? Qantas? Air New Zealand? British Airways? Air France? KLM? Lufthansa?
And to bring in Iraq and Afghanistan is specious and shows how flimsy your arguments are.
MAS is a gold mine..so everyone wants to have a piece..you know what i mean rite?
in the early 70s there was an honest PM that wanted a national airline, he appointed two civil servants, one was the CEO and the other was the Head of Legal and Secretarial who subsequently became the CEO, who was followed by an in-house accountant as CEO, the airline had a hand full of 737s and 2nd 707s from Qantas and they made money, than as they grew bigger and profitable they bought the required planes and more importantly at the required numbers, 4 A300 and 3 DC10, and they still made money.
The rot really started when the "outsiders" decided that there were ways to make money and thus started the shenanigans, an oil company was asked to buy and lease back planes because the airline could not break its engine contract, than the same outsiders decided the the people running the airline were incapable and sold it to one of their own.......and after that as its said "the rest is history"
So while we are quick to say Malaysians are stupid or persons thus far appointed have failed or are incompetent we must ask;
1. have they been given a fair chance with no strings attached to perform.
2. Can the sacred contracts be broken and renegotiated at arms length economic values?
3. Can there be fair and open competition without the bulling hand outs be given to competitors.
the truth be told, its impossible for anyone to turn around this pride of Malaysia as long as those who claim to have her best interest continuously poke their noses in.
Politicians must remember they are politicians and if the Rakyat vote them in they govern, let business people run business without interferences, it would be a win win for both sides.
in the early 70s there was an honest PM that wanted a national airline, he appointed two civil servants, one was the CEO and the other was the Head of Legal and Secretarial who subsequently became the CEO, who was followed by an in-house accountant as CEO, the airline had a hand full of 737s and 2nd 707s from Qantas and they made money, than as they grew bigger and profitable they bought the required planes and more importantly at the required numbers, 4 A300 and 3 DC10, and they still made money.
The rot really started when the "outsiders" decided that there were ways to make money and thus started the shenanigans, an oil company was asked to buy and lease back planes because the airline could not break its engine contract, than the same outsiders decided the the people running the airline were incapable and sold it to one of their own.......and after that as its said "the rest is history"
So while we are quick to say Malaysians are stupid or persons thus far appointed have failed or are incompetent we must ask;
1. have they been given a fair chance with no strings attached to perform.
2. Can the sacred contracts be broken and renegotiated at arms length economic values?
3. Can there be fair and open competition without the bulling hand outs be given to competitors.
the truth be told, its impossible for anyone to turn around this pride of Malaysia as long as those who claim to have her best interest continuously poke their noses in.
Politicians must remember they are politicians and if the Rakyat vote them in they govern, let business people run business without interferences, it would be a win win for both sides.
yes youare right, now somebody ( conman) waiting sell mas engineering service aircraft world lience .he will get millon dollar comission.
It's a pity that we didn't have the equivalent of Singapore's J Y M Pillay back in the day!
Some khazanah trolls here it seems. So kalau tak boleh buat kerja without interference, why hang around then. Just quit lah.
Unless hangpa pun nak cari kerja senang gaji besaq. And all the while making MORE losses than during TR punya masa.
And typical, beri contoh2 yang tak ada evidence.
Duh.
/// Tebing Tinggi said...
It's a pity that we didn't have the equivalent of Singapore's J Y M Pillay back in the day! ///
What are you talking about? JYM Pillay was alive and well (and still kicking today) back in those days. Only problem was the country of his birth did not want to employ him because of his race.
BTW, back in those days, there was also a certain Malaysian by the name of Dr Cheong Choon Kong. Again, he was found not suitable to run the Malayan/Malaysian airline because of his race.
And ex-Malaysians JYM and CCK went on to create an airline that is a great way to fly.
Brother, ada contoh tapi sekarang bagi contoh mereka kata "cedition
ABITW
The way you are focused on your Khazanah bashing makes me think you agree with the orang putih but dare not be different than Tun M's view.
to the,
so what? like a hardworking malay will ever be elevated to an important position in a chino company. affirmative action started because of you lot refuse to give opportunity to talented malays. don't play victim here man when the reality was started by Chinese company. and we all know not little Chinese company fall out on bankruptcy while many suicidal attempt/cases is championed by Chinese. most of it because of financial related problem (lingkup). baru satu company hancur dah bising. yang PETRONAS masuk fortune 500 subsidi berapa banyak minyak pada kau and lots of infrastructure built from our oil money tu apa citer? nak harap company cina bayar cukai? tipu cukai bleh la. tu yang ketaq lutut bila kerajaan nak perkenal gst.
jentayu
/// to the,
so what? like a hardworking malay will ever be elevated to an important position in a chino company.
jentayu
3:38 PM ///
There you are, the source of Malaysia's problem - entitlement.
An important job MUST be given just because a malay is hardworking? What about ability? And what about that many more non-malays who are even more hardworking and even more talented?
In case you don't know that chins company that is SIA gave the top job to a non-chino - a Mr JYM Pillay who is an Indian born in Malaysia. Who says chino company or Singapore does not give opportunities to minorities or non-chinos? The Indians are even more of a minority in Singapore than malays. Yet they are disproportionately represented in top echelons of Singapore - in business, civil services, judiciary, parliament, and even ministers.
So, it boils down to talent. You don't "elevate" someone just because of his race or his hard work. The fact that you have to "elevate" someone says a lot. Next time, take the elevator.
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