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MAS fights to win back share

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BACK to basics is the mantra of Ahmad Jauhari Yahya these days. He reckons that this approach can save Malaysia Airlines (MAS). No doubt, not everyone is convinced that Ahmad Jauhari, the ailing airline’s fifth head honcho in the last 10 years, can pull off that feat.


It seems that saving MAS is increasingly an impossible task.


MAS, has over the past decade, been through several turnarounds and restructuring and at every stage something new is being done. But what is still lacking is sustainability in profits. Operating in an ever-increasing competitive landscape, MAS struggles with legacy issues.



The ardent critics have often suggested that a company like MAS should be shut down. Clearly, that’s not an option for Ahmad Jauhari, who was appointed back in 2011 to fix things at the airline.



On the contrary, going by his assessment, the airline is in recovery mode.



“Everyone has his own recovery model and MAS decided to have a more gradual and sustainable recovery model by harnessing the assets and the people that we have,” he told StarBizWeek.




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ok..should we give respect to him?

what about the issue on the MAS crew that was fired by him..the president of MAS crew associate.

The survival of MH is not related to staff who go against company's policy. You go against the policy and you face the consequences, legally.

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from the passenger's perspective, there's no specific charm to fly MH when other rivals local or foreign offers similar or better services, at similar or lower price.And MH i believe is not at similar footing with SQ which can still fill its seats with higher fares due to its exceptional service both in terms of cabin crew and its inflight hardware, one can really be impressed by SQ even in short sector like KUL-SIN..i know i am :)

 

sad to say most of my flights with MH nowadays are those work trips arranged by my comp..for personal travel i prefer to shop around for the best overall deal

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He didnt say exactly how MAS will win back the market share - and even if it does increase its share it be useless if MH does not make a profit but continue its losses. After so many CEOs before, its be some kind of miracle to really turn MH into a profitable airline for next few years - its no point turning in a few million profit one year andlosing for the next few years like it have been doing. Main thinhg is that MH needs a seriosuly complete overhaul and manage its costs and audit its costs - and that it shouyld not be competing with budget carriers like AK, and Lion or even Malindo in the domestic, regional and some international destinations that LCC flies to. Product change and differentialisation must be the order of the day.

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The survival of MH is not related to staff who go against company's policy. You go against the policy and you face the consequences, legally.

You are right Mr EddieDaniel. lets help MAS to recover like sharing our idea to them.

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He didnt say exactly how MAS will win back the market share -

 

Reading between the lines, he spends time rallying his troops/employees...

 

If the employees are not behind him, any turnaround plans would fail... They need to be with him thick and thin..For his part, he needs to show solid leadership and win trust..

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Forget it, this nation is full of people who knows how to promise. In the past, millions are gone by the previous management without the need to pay back. It remain doubtful the national airline can be profitable as the leaders of this boleh land continues to remain as corrupt as never been before......

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Forget it, this nation is full of people who knows how to promise. In the past, millions are gone by the previous management without the need to pay back. It remain doubtful the national airline can be profitable as the leaders of this boleh land continues to remain as corrupt as never been before......

What do you mean millions? TR embezzled billions from the people of Malaysia...

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What do you mean millions? TR embezzled billions from the people of Malaysia...

Why blamed TR alone, who was his boss then? Where did the money actually go to, DZ?

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I do not like the tone of going 'back to basic'. Does he meant going back to do all those things like during the first turnaround plan in 2006, the FSVC thingy? The snackbox seems to have been making a comeback. That is not a good sign.

 

1538917_10151863821473372_700853122_n.jp

 

Photo stolen from Isaac.

 

I thought they wanted to be a premium airline. Premium does not go in sync with 'basic'. I thought they have learnt from past mistakes that going FVSC is not the way forward. Is history going to repeat itself? In such a short span of time?

 

And why whenever they wanted to increase the profit/cut the cost, food is always the first one to be chopped? I don't understand it at all when the whole world know what cost that need to be trimmed off.

 

I hope I interpret the 'back to basic' wrongly.

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Well, when the fare is competitive to LCC, the offerings will match that as well. What is the big fuss? We can't expect paying affordable fares yet asking for the moon and the stars. At least, food is served without having to pay onboard. My friend paid USD650 from JFK to LAX on DL and all he gets is peanuts and orange juice. Hot food is not on standard offerings and he has to pay for that. So does IFE.

Edited by EddieDaniel

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The FSVC experience in the past has proven that going head to head with the LCCs in terms of product offerings including meals and price is not the way to go. It is a failure, hence why MH is going premium in its last rebranding exercise. Pricing a premium product too low for the sake of load factor is not consumers' fault.

 

Food offerings should be compared to other legacies within the ASEAN region (like what Garuda serves on their domestic and regional flights for example) because what DL serves on JFK-LAX is irrelevant to us.

 

It has been highlighted in many reports that the costs that bring MH's profits down are its finance costs, its untouchable contracts related costs and its bloated workforce related costs. So why these main costs are not being taken care of but instead the meal is given the cut?

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The FSVC experience in the past has proven that going head to head with the LCCs in terms of product offerings including meals and price is not the way to go. It is a failure, hence why MH is going premium in its last rebranding exercise. Pricing a premium product too low for the sake of load factor is not consumers' fault.

 

Food offerings should be compared to other legacies within the ASEAN region (like what Garuda serves on their domestic and regional flights for example) because what DL serves on JFK-LAX is irrelevant to us.

 

It has been highlighted in many reports that the costs that bring MH's profits down are its finance costs, its untouchable contracts related costs and its bloated workforce related costs. So why these main costs are not being taken care of but instead the meal is given the cut?

 

Did you mean contracts that charge ridiculous prices for an egg? Like RM3/- per egg? If that's still happening, it's no wonder MH has low yields despite the higher loads of recent months. Wonder if this is ever true!

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Despite numerous btp and ceo, mh untouchable overhead remain excessively high, doubt mh can be profitable in the run.

 

Believe the only economical solution is to close down the airline.

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..... ridiculous prices for an egg? Like RM3/- per egg?

Maybe it's eggs from pedigree chicken, organically bred, organically fed, shell of very specific shade of white and translucence, yolk of exacting sulphuric content, dimensions and shape of most rigid standards ...... etc

With such demanding specs, one would need to narrow down sources drastically, more than likely to a sole supplier to ensure and maintain quality assurance

And with that sort of requirements, cost will definitely be a tad higher than market rate - in fact RM3 per egg is probably a bargain all in considered :)

 

That the sort of reasoning we been fed here ! :D

Edited by BC Tam

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Did you mean contracts that charge ridiculous prices for an egg? Like RM3/- per egg? If that's still happening, it's no wonder MH has low yields despite the higher loads of recent months. Wonder if this is ever true!

 

Brahim catering is guaranteed minimum yearly profit.

 

On my recent MH flights; newspaper is no longer available to EY class and only 20 blankets for 772 regional service EY class.

Edited by KK Lee

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When I did read the polemics on this topic I could not argue with myself anymore that the predicaments of the MAS MD as indicated by himself in the Star article as mentioned by the topic starter “abk” where as honest as it gets.

What I read was a summary of a man who was at the end of his venture to get MAS back to where it should be. He, with not so many words admitted, that he did not know anymore what else to do to get his airline performing the way they should be performing.

 

Now, to be perfectly clear, to get MAS performing as it should be is no easy task. Nobody said that. And when AJ took the challenge two years ago and said that he would give it his best, all and sundry wished him well. That was then.

 

Now, as the proverbial fertilizer has hit the ceiling, with the accumulated losses of about a Billion RM in 2013 there is now much grumbling amongst the ranks along the lines of , “off with his head.”

But let us wait for a moment before we sentence him as required..

What we have here is a man who, judged by his best knowledge, tried to get MAS up and running again to the desired parameters.

 

That the powers that be did not back him up with an unconditional guarentee that no matter what, they would let him do his job and, more importently, gave him the tools to act accordingly, combined with political machinations to serve otherwise interests, is the only thing we can bring to AJ's defense. He, and anybody else in his position would have been just a brick in the wall.

 

I specifiacally recall this statement of AJ, in the article as mentioned above.

 

“The only thing that has changed in physical perception was the A380, and that is because we had the hardware to do it. The thing is when you start pushing things like productivity levels, fares, do the customer see it? No, they don’t. But if you give them nice nasi lemak with 10 prawns onboard, then they see it, but you know how much that costs?” he says. (underlining by me)

 

There you have it in a nutshell. AJ is done.

Maybe the powers that be will give him and his staff an extension for another two years but, given what we know now, AJ will apologies again after the next two years. If MAS is still around by then.

 

Do not blame AJ as he is.. I would like to see the guy, or gal, who would take the job and perform it, when push comes to shove. In the present political context, the job of MAS MD is, whomever to be appointed, a mission impossible. As sad as it is.

The solution??? Do not ask me. Ask the MAS talent pool and let them speak, Their advise is free of charge.

 

Cheers

A.

 

 

 

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5 star service ... here we go again. round two of FSVC. look at the reviews on skytrax --> MH is getting bashed left right and centre. how long can they keep growing their pax numbers? I might continue to grow for a short time as many of the FFs' from OneWorld moved to MH for the sheer novelty...a new 5 star member of OW. However, I am sure a lot will decide NOT to fly them again and stick to QF/CX/BA/QR etc etc once they have experienced the best of Malaysian hospitality.

 

 

we can't blame AJ for this really. his hands are tied, he can't run the airline like how an airline should be run. welcome to the new soviet 'socialist' union of malaysia...where everything is owned by the cronies of the ruling government. 1 malaysia milk, 1 malaysia sugar, 1 malaysia bread etc etc. nothing is left untouched. things are privatised and then bought back by the government. many of the people that run these companies are not qualified to do so.

 

while eastern europe is now progressing well as members of the EU, malaysia is going backwards into a big brother banana republic dictatorship.

 

sorry, off topic now, somewhat ...

Edited by Izanee

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One of the few ways if to seriously privitalise MAS - but the govt had already trash this idea this a few mths ago. Hence do not think MH can be back to profitability for the medium run. The whole MAS structure needs to be untangled and to be redone and not making small changes here and there and ad hoc audit. MH entire operations needs to be audited by an external agency.

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The thing is when you start pushing things like productivity levels, fares, do the customer see it? No, they don’t.

Yes, they DO :)

Especially when you go into 'fares' territory

And passengers do notice whether crew do go around checking up on paxs' needs (proactive) rather than holing themselves up at designated stations waiting for the pings to come in (reactive)

But I noticed the most glaring difference in productivity between MH and AK crews (my apology for yet another comparison with the red party) is the enthusiasm and effort AK crews put into on board sales of souvenirs, duty free etc, whilst MH crews were wheeling the trolley up and down the aisle like hoping no one will notice (that true, at least for my last couple of MH flights) :D

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