KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) has moved on from the bitter break-up that its unit Malaysia Airlines Bhd had gone through with Brahim's Holdings Bhd's in-flight catering unit Brahim's Food Services Sdn Bhd (BFS) on Aug 31 last year.
MAG group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail said the move was necessary as the organisation had undertaken several reinvention since 2019 in order to be able to operate commercially as a premium national airline.
"There were a lot of reset and taking a step back on how should Malaysia Airlines positions itself. The journey to get to premium is not easy based on the legacy products and the hardware we have.
"In 2021 when the market opens up (after the pandemic), we continue with our aspiration and we felt that it's very relevant now for us to drive premium."
"So, that is when we started looking at contracts which is not benefiting us; that is impacting our profit and loss and also the end-products to our customers," Izham told Business Times in an interview recently.
Izham said MAG had also taken the painful step to end contracts with its other suppliers besides BFS as the group believed that it had to move on towards its journey to become a profitable organisation.
After years of being in the red since its inception in 2015, MAG had finally registered its first ever net profit of RM766 million for its financial year 2023 with a cash balance of RM4.3 billion.
"We've ticked the box of every battle that we have to take and now we have moved on. For those contractors or service providers that cannot reach an agreement with us, we switch to another service provider."
"So, it's not only Brahim's, there are others. If Brahim's felt that we shortchange them, the answer is no…If Brahim's feel offended, I'm sorry.
"But the fact is that Malaysia Airlines remains steadfast to deliver the best-in-class customer experience that represents Malaysian Hospitality that depicts the values of being Malaysian in Malaysia as a country but we must front it. We must operate this organisation commercially," Izham said.
He admitted that there were other areas that MAG, specifically Malaysia Airlines, had to improve on. This included the carrier's operational efficiency and its loyalty programme, Enrich.
He said many Malaysia Airlines customers were unhappy with its loyalty programme and MAG was on the move to rejig Enrich to provide a better service.
"As we speak today, there is an aggressive change of even the Enrich management team," Izham said, adding that MAG would continuously transform itself based on market trends and environment.
Customer satisfaction remain key to MAG and while the group is doing its best to offer the best premium service, it is also facing external challenges that comes with managing an airline business.
These include operating an ageing fleet while waiting for the delivery of new airplanes and managing on-time performance for all of its flights.
"Those are the challenges. There is no business that is a walk in the park. Airline is one of them. It's super tough."
"If you say today Malaysia Airlines has transformed, no. It's just the beginning of our journey. Malaysia Airlines was at the doorstep of making history and now we are on track to making history. We must make sure that this journey continues," Izham said.