MAHB needs a cultural reset, says ex-MAG chief

Thursday 17 Sep 2026

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KUALA LUMPUR (July 1): Former Malaysian Aviation Group Bhd (MAG) group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail has drawn a parallel between the past version of his organisation and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), pointing to a shared "culture of entitlement".

According to a report issued by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, Izham said MAHB’s successful transformation will hinge on whether it can stage a cultural reset in its organisation, much like what MAG had to undertake to turn its operations around.

“The old Malaysia Airlines is somewhat like MAHB. Same culture. Culture of entitlement. ‘I work here; you can't fire me. I'll work here until I'm 60,’ right?” Izham told the PAC in proceedings on public airport management on Feb 19, 2025.

“‘When I retire, you have to give me flight tickets twice a year, and this and that, medical benefits and everything’. You become entitled; you will not transform. You will not be thinking of the organisation or the country. You think of yourself,” he added.

MAHB will have to undergo a shift to a performance-driven culture, Izham said, like what MAG had to cultivate.

The PAC held proceedings on public airport management following widespread concern over the decision to privatise MAHB as well as significant deterioration in the standard of services at the country's main airport, namely the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The objective of the proceedings was to examine and evaluate the privatisation process and the new ownership structure of MAHB; investigate the post-privatisation governance process and mechanisms; examine and understand the management action plan for passenger and cargo flows; and examine and understand MAHB's operational transformation plan to restore the performance of the country's airports.

MAHB was privatised in February 2025 by a consortium comprising Khazanah Nasional Bhd, via its wholly-owned UEM Group Bhd, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

It was privatised with the objective of improving decision-making and accelerating transformation at the airport operator.

During proceedings, Izham spoke on the importance of the aviation industry in nation-building. He noted the urgent need of a strong transformation programme to improve services at Malaysia’s airports, particularly KLIA.

Between 2018 and 2023, Malaysia Airlines saw the exit of 3,700 staff due to underperformance, he said. These departures were part of a structured programme where employees signed agreements tied to specific, short-term performance targets — making the separation a pre-agreed outcome if those targets were not met.

As an example, Izham said a quarter of missed financial targets would put an employee on notice for the next quarter. “This is [something] together we agreed…. By the end of quarter two, [if] you cannot deliver and cannot recover quarter one, then you're out by the second week of quarter three.

“[Is] MAHB willing to do that? That’s the will of transformation,” he said.

Izham steered MAG during some of the group’s most turbulent times, marked by persistent profitability struggles, frequent leadership turnover and mounting pressure to consider a sale — a scenario that the government openly debated at the time.

The group subsequently underwent a restructuring in 2021, which saw the group reduce its liabilities by over RM15 billion, eliminate RM10 billion in debt, and secure a RM3.6 billion capital injection from its controlling shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

MAG then returned to profitability in 2022 with an operating profit of RM540 million, and in 2023 logged its first net profit since the 2015 reset.

In January this year, Izham stepped down as MAG group managing director.

Edited ByPresenna Nambiar & Tan Choe Choe

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