PETALING JAYA, Aug 21 — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya gave an assurance today that he will be stay in the hot seat until the loss-making national carrier gets back into the black.

A local business daily had reported last week that Ahmad Jauhari’s contract would expire at the end of September, but the aviation chief dismissed it today as mere speculation.

“I will be around to see this airline turn,” he told a news conference to update on MAS’s business plan.

The Business Times had last Friday suggested that a new man may soon be helming the national airlines, citing MAS Employees Union (Maseu) president Alias Aziz, who had written to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Natjib Razak to ask for a future boss candidate from within the company.

Prior to his appointment in MAS, Ahmad Jauhari was managing director and CEO of Premium Renewable Energy (M) Sdn Bhd.

Rather than aviation, he had cut his teeth in industries such as oil and gas, engineering, power and energy.

An engineer by training, he was appointed to lead MAS on September 14, 2011.