http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/mas-set-reboot
The plan was already being crafted to salvage the airline before the tragic incident of the missing flight MH370. The incident merely accentuated the process.
The airline has been unprofitable for four straight quarters prior to the tragic incident which has thrown MAS into a tailspin, making it necessary for a review of financial projections and business plan.
China is one of MAS' big markets accounting for 10 per cent of its revenue and after the incident, tickets sales have been slow. There has been numerous flight cancellations to China and elsewhere in Asia. MAS needs to address a bigger issue - which is the lack of confidence rather than just slowing ticket sales.
So at the townhall, MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and his senior team, often referred internally as the "elite club" put forth the plan to reset MAS. Only senior people were at the townhall session but that triggered talks within the airline and many employees now fear for their jobs, claims someone in the know.
One of the issues on the reset plan is to downsize the number of employees via separation schemes.
It also involves those remaining in the company to work under new terms. The downsizing is seen necessary as MAS, post MH370, has a smaller network and does not need as many workers as before. MAS has about 20,000 employees.
Instead of opting for a one day shut down to restart, Ahamd Jauhari is looking at cost cuts by separating the non-airline operations with airline operations.
The announcement on the reset plan may be made by month-end, pending board and shareholders' approval, and implementation of a scheme is likely to be in July.
MAS and its major shareholder Khazanah Nasional Bhd did not respond to questions from StarBizWeek.
In the next few weeks, while the search for MH370 continues, it should become clearer if MAS will reset itself to pick up the pieces.
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