SEPANG, March 25 — Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said he will decide “later” if he should resign over criticism of the airline’s handling of the flight MH370 crisis.
MAS, whose plane disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, is under heavy fire for its handling of the incident and alleged treatment of family members of the missing passengers and crew.
“Will I resign? (It is a) personal decision I will take later,” he said at a press conference here.
The MAS chief was asked by a reporter whether he would quit following yesterday’s announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that aircraft ended its flight “somewhere in the Indian Ocean.”
Ahmad Jauhari stressed that MAS did its best to inform the families of the missing passengers and crew “as quickly as possible” last night.
The airline earlier was condemned for its decision to use text messages to break the news to some of the relatives, after the short messaging service (SMS) texts it sent was shared by news outlets and across social media yesterday.
In a statement this morning, MAS clarified it sent text messages informing families of those on board flight MH370 that the plane was assumed lost, only to supplement personal notifications and phone calls.
Today, MAS explained that they had personally contacted and called the next of kin prior to PM Najib’s announcement last night
Ahmad Jauhari previously gave his assurance that the families will be the first to know of new discoveries on the fate of MH370 and the people on board.
Search efforts are now converging in the south of the Indian Ocean where Australia has searched since March 20 for signs of the plane that has been missing for over two weeks.
