KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Caught by surprise, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai remains confident that Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) is still on track for profitability following the unexpected resignation of its chief executive Peter Bellew.
Liow said he did not foresee Bellew’s return to Irish budget airline Ryanair as its chief operating officer (COO) and added that the new CEO will be decided by Khazanah Nasional, the flag carrier’s majority stakeholder.
“We are confident that the MAS transformation will continue irrespective of who is the new chief executive officer,” he was quoted by The Star Online as telling reporters at the Deepavali open house here hosted by Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Bellew, previously Ryanair flight operations director until 2014, joined MAB as its COO in September 2015 and later became CEO in July last year after German Christoph Mueller quit.
His three-year contract as CEO was supposed to end in June 2019, New Straits Times (NST) reported on its website.
The Irishman said in a statement today that he was returning to Ryanair due to “love of country” and denied he was leaving just over a year because of meddling from Khazanah as suggested.
The internet has been abuzz with speculation on Bellew’s successor, with NST reporting Mass Rapid Transit Corp chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar as one of the leading contenders for the post.
Shahril had been named as a possible candidate when Mueller left the airline last year, the report said.
