This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 23, 2017 - October 29, 2017

CAPTAIN Izham Ismail has been appointed Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s CEO and executive director. He replaces Peter Bellew, who resigned last week and will be heading home to Ireland to be chief operations officer of Ryanair.

In a statement last Friday, Malaysia Airlines said the chief operating officer’s appointment is in line with the succession plan that it has put in place as part of the 12-point MAS Recovery Plan mooted in 2014. It added that a board executive committee will be set up for at least six months. Its members are chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof, Tan Sri Krishnan Tan Boon Seng, Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Isa and Sheranjiv Sammanthan.

Izham is slated to take over the reins from Bellew, who is currently on administrative leave, on Dec 1. Izham, who has 38 years of experience in the aviation industry, started his career with the airlines as a pilot in 1979, after which he broke world aviation records when he flew the company’s first B777-200 from Seattle to Kuala Lumpur and back. With a total flight time of 41 hours and 59 minutes over a distance of 23,310 miles, it was the longest and fastest round-the-world flight by a commercial airliner.

Appointed to a management position just 10 years after joining Malaysia Airlines, he has held positions such as senior instructor pilot, fleet manager and director of operations. He was CEO of MASwings, Malaysia Airlines’ sister company operating in Sabah and Sarawak, before becoming COO.

Izham has been integral to the airline’s ongoing turnaround effort, being responsible for flight and airport operations as well as engineering.

However, there seems to be a lot of trepidation as to how the new CEO will fare. “If two world-class CEOs leave in a span of three years, something must be wrong at Malaysia Airlines,” says one of the individuals who was being sought to helm the national carrier.

Bellew’s predecessor, Christoph Mueller, who left in September last year, way before his three-year contract was to end, cited “changing personal circumstances”.

But Mueller joined Emirates soon after and Bellew is rejoining Ryanair. Both are respected airlines, which implies there is “nothing wrong” with the two men, or their management skills, says an airline official. “So it must be something wrong with Malaysia Airlines then.”

When Mueller left, there was much speculation on the reasons, with some saying that he could not take the corruption in the company. Others said he was upset about an ageing 747-400 being brought out of retirement to replace an Airbus A380 (the event did not happen).

Bellew’s departure is said to have been prompted by largest shareholder Khazanah Nasional’s meddling. Both Khazanah and Bellew have denied the allegation.

It is worth noting that the company had agreed to buy Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliners and 737 Max jets in September. It was also slated to double an order of 25 single-aisle 737 Max 10 aircraft after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak met with US President Donald Trump.

A market watcher says Malaysia Airlines has a lot of directors — 14, to be exact — which could be seen as a hindrance and could turn into interference. “If you are serious about cutting costs, start with the board. Honestly, why so many board members?” he asks.

Many other aspects of Bellew’s resignation do not add up as well. According to the company, Ryanair Holdings PLC’s announcement to the London Stock Exchange on Bellew’s appointment last week was “unexpected”.

However, many in Corporate Malaysia do not believe that the company and its parent Khazanah had been caught unawares.

“The cat should have been out of the bag when he (Bellew) made the first denial,” a market watcher says. At end-September, Bellew strongly denied a news report that said he was going back to Ryanair. “I am proud to be part of MAS. The longer I’m here, the prouder I am to be in the job I am in. I am happy to be here and this will be the greatest achievement in my life if I could turn the airline around,” he said.

The airline official adds, “If Bellew really did not tell anyone, it would be unprofessional, which is uncharacteristic of him.”

Others wonder if Malaysia Airline will actually return to the black in the second half of next year, as expected. For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY2016), the company posted a net loss of RM438.87 million on revenue of RM8.57 billion. In FY2015, the airline recorded RM1.12 billion in net losses on revenue of RM3.14 billion. Total liabilities as at end December 2016 stood at RM4.91 billion, down from RM9.83 billion the previous year. Total assets fell to RM6.07 billion in FY2016 from RM9.11 billion in FY2015.

Bellew has gone on record to say that Malaysia Airlines is close to turning around, requiring just a 4% to 5% increase in monthly revenues to return to profit.

During a recent media visit to Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, he said in an interview, “Everybody’s mindset needs to change about Malaysia Airlines, from being a story about bad things happening to great opportunities there are in the future… Listen, we are in very good standing with banks all over the world, the largest international banks want to do business with Malaysia Airlines.”

Sadly, he won’t be part of the story at Malaysia Airlines anymore. As for Izham, all eyes will be on his performance.

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.