Outgoing Malaysia Air chief defends cuts, mulls final jet order

Malaysia Airlines CEO Christoph Mueller, midway through a six-month notice period following his surprise resignation in April, said the company should resist unwinding a turnaround strategy that’s cut 6,000 jobs and reduced capacity by almost a third. The Asian carrier is ahead of schedule with its restructuring, having reached break even recently, putting it on course for a full-year profit in 2018 as targeted, if not earlier, said Mueller, who leaves in September. “If I had one wish it would be for the implementation of the plan as outlined,” the 54-year-old executive said. “No change in strategy, no hesitation over whether it should really be that system.” Mueller was hired in March 2015 after Malaysia Air’s reputation and sales were hit by two fatal crashes the previous year, one involving a plane that disappeared over the Indian Ocean, the other a missile strike on a jet flying above a Ukrainian war zone. In the period since, he has directed it away from global markets and toward the Asia-Pacific, seeking to establish Kuala Lumpur as a hub for the region rather than a staging post for travel from Europe. The “tough decisions” of job and route cuts, the retirement of the Boeing 777-200 fleet and the renegotiation of aircraft lease rates have all been taken, leaving the overhaul of internal processes such as revenue accounting as the most pressing issue, Mueller said. The executive said such changes can often be among the toughest to implement, as the level of disruption caused can lead companies to dilute their original plans.<br/>