THE Malaysian Aviation Group Bhd (MAG), the parent company of Malaysian Airlines, has announced a 20% cut in flights until the end of the year, with up to a million passengers likely to be affected by the cancellations.
We are also seeing a high number of Malaysia Airlines flights rerouted mid-flight. Reports suggested there were four instances last month, and one this month which took place just a few days ago. These cases will surely negatively add to the carrier’s image and reputation – perhaps even to its business going forward.
MAG said the cancellations, which is euphemistically called a network reduction exercise, were due to multiple issues including global supply chain issues of parts, delayed aircraft deliveries, as well as shortages in its maintenance workforce. These are legitimate reasons as some other airlines did so too.
However, how these are communicated to the passengers and the public is important, as well. As a result, right now many people, without understanding the issues, think there must be something not alright with the airline.
We were all behind the national carrier when it lost the MH370 and MH17 planes, and for some of us, it was a national mission to get behind it as it shook off the tragedies. Some flew with it, even when ticket prices were comparatively higher.
However, our support is thinning. The national carrier loathes to tell us what is happening in the company even when we are all stakeholders via sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
Billions of taxpayer ringgit have been used as seed money to buy the airline and fund several restructuring exercises, including an asset-stripping plan, as well as bailouts.
The optics also do not look good when it is being publicly discussed that the carrier group is losing scores of maintenance crew to a Singaporean entity based in Subang.
Ironically, it is a deal by a Khazanah company that is undermining the national carrier. One can already hear the sharpening of the proverbial knives ahead of the Parliamentary sitting soon.
Incidentally, this episode of network reduction exercise came a year after the carrier group decided to terminate a 25-year contract with its caterer, resulting in chaos and food served in “tapau” boxes, presumably a first for a full-service airline.
Supply chain issues, staff pinched by rivals, or terminating a caterer are of course issues that must be handled, them being part of the remit of management.
We may be way off in our reading of the issues as we are not privy to what led to the decisions, but what we gather through the dribs and drabs of information – amid much chatter and speculations, perhaps even some with misguided conclusions – do not reflect too kindly to the national carrier, its management, board and shareholders.
When flights are cancelled and passengers are inconvenienced, more than corporate speak should come from the company. Also, not only the government should be informed, but the public as well.
We are after all shareholders by virtue of Khazanah, and the carrier has the name of our country and flag emblazoned as livery on its planes.
While Malaysia Airlines now pales far behind its heyday when it was flying the world over and employing more than 20,000, it remains the country’s most visible ambassador in foreign lands.
It does not look good on the government, as well as the prime minister – who is the chairman of Khazanah and the chief lightning rod for everything that ails the country – that the national carrier continues to weigh them down with its negativities.
Even if we are busybodies who struggle to tell the difference between the galley and the flight deck, we have the right to be informed by the company what is happening with it.
MAG’s management, board, and shareholders should also not sub-contract the job to the transport minister, for instance – even if he is good at it.
Or else, with the billions spent on it, in this age of virtual open skies and national carriers worldwide encountering headwinds from budget and private airlines, we could be asking if Malaysia Airlines is more trouble than it is worth. – September 4, 2024
Datuk Zainul Arifin is chief executive officer of Big Boom Media which publishes Scoop