The founder and CEO of the AirAsia Group, Tony Fernandes, says his firm is in early discussions with Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) over possible cooperation between the two airlines. According to Fernandes, the most likely sector in which the two may find synergies is the aircraft MRO sector.
“It makes complete logical sense. If together, the two of us can make a regional powerhouse in MRO, that’s great,” he told Malaysia's Star newspaper after the company’s AGM. “We have put our planes somewhere for maintenance. Why not keep it in Malaysia and do it with MAS, and both of us get lower costs, and more importantly, through both our volumes – we can offer to third party airlines around the world. And Malaysia becomes a much bigger MRO centre and more jobs are created.”
Fernandes added that the recent arrival of Christoph Mueller as CEO of Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) has heralded the beginning of a new era between the two carriers. In the past, the two have had a tense relationship given their bitter rivalry.
“Many things we have talked about for many years – due to emotion, never happened. I think, now Mueller comes with a fresh piece of paper, no baggage, no emotion. He says what is good for MAS – let’s see whether collaborating with AirAsia makes sense.”
Earlier this week, Mueller outlined his three-phase turnaround strategy for the Malaysian national carrier, which he said was 'technically bankrupt'. Under his plan, which seeks to return the carrier to profitability by 2017, MAS's successor firm, Malaysia Airlines Berhad, will be grouped into three divisions – Operations, Support functions, and Learning & Development - with a total of twelve subsidiaries.
The operations division will include Malaysia Airlines and its MASKargo unit, MASwings (MY, Kota Kinabalu) and Firefly (FY, Penang). The Support Functions division will oversee MRO unit MAS Engineering, Malaysian Airlines Ground Handling, MAS Holiday and the airline's Frequent Flyer Programme, Enrich. Malaysia Airlines Academy, MAS Engineering Training, flight training and operations training will fall under the Learning & Development division.
In terms of its network and operations, Mueller said two A380-800s had been deemed surplus-to-requirement and were slated to be either sold or leased out.
