SUBANG JAYA (Oct 20): The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM), which represents about 2,000 cabin crew working in Malaysia Airlines Bhd, wants Khazanah Nasional Bhd to practise a hands-off approach with the struggling airline, following two CEO resignations in three years.

NUFAM president Ismail Nasaruddin accused Khazanah, the airline's owner, as wrong for the airline.

"They should stop ruining the airline, [and] give it back to the Ministry of Finance or [let] Malaysia Airlines [manage itself] immediately.

"Khazanah should be hands off with Malaysia Airlines, don't disturb the airline's management. All things go haywire when there is an interference in the airline.

"Enough Khazanah, Khazanah has to stop. If they don't stop, more problems will come and more people will be affected," he charged at a press conference today.

He also called on Khazanah to be accountable for what has gone wrong and to give an explanation on the turmoil that is happening at the airline, saying Malaysians deserve to know the truth.

"We want to know what's going on with Malaysia Airlines. A lot of people who [are] interested to see the airline grow today are very concerned on how things are run... As far as we are concerned, things [don't] look good. The airline's image is tumbling," he said.

NUFAM's call came after Peter Bellew quit as Malaysia Airline's CEO to return to Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair.

Bellew, who replaced Christoph Mueller who joined Malaysia Airlines in May 2015 but quit in September last year, is the second foreign CEO who resigned from the job in less than two years. The duo had been Malaysia Airlines CEO for not more than 18 months.

Following Bellew's decision to quit, there was speculation it was Khazanah's interference in the running of the airline which has put off Bellew, though Bellew has vehemently denied it, saying there was "zero interference" from Khazanah.

Interestingly, Bellew's resignation came on the heels of Malaysia Airlines' announcement that it had placed an order for eight 787-9 Dreamliners, worth US$2.2 billion (RM9.3 billion) at list prices. The news of the big aircraft purchase from US-based Boeing Co has drawn criticism, given that Malaysia Airlines faces difficulties filling up the six A380s it bought in 2003.

Meanwhile, Khazanah said it has the right, as the sole shareholder of the airline, to be informed of the national carrier's operations and the progress of the restructuring it initiated for the airline.

In 2014, Khazanah pumped in RM6 billion to support a five-year recovery plan it outlined for the airline, starting with the delisting of the airline, known as Malaysian Airline System Bhd or MAS then; 6,000 staff were also laid off as part of the plan.

"The union, the workers, the people of Malaysia, all deserve an answer from Khazanah, because they have come out with its great plan [to turn around the airline], but it doesn't seem to work," Ismail claimed.

"The problem creeping in Malaysia Airlines is because we are changing the chief too fast. It cannot be that way, we cannot have a CEO walking in and out of the Malaysia Airlines in a short period of time.

"I'm pretty sure Bellew knew something and so planned to leave, [though] he promised to help Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines is changing CEO like nobody's business...The union is not confident with Khazanah's plan," Ismail added.

In announcing its second-quarter 2017 results on Sept 8, Malaysia Airlines said it was still on track to be profitable in 2018.

A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia revealed that Malaysia Airlines narrowed its net loss to RM438.87 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16) from RM1.13 billion in FY15, as revenue rose 2.7 times to RM8.57 billion from RM3.14 billion.

Currently, Ismail claimed that the workers at Malaysia Airlines are working under the remote control after Bellew's left.

"I wonder whose instruction they should follow. Its Khazanah management's fault and it's their turn to be terminated for all these endless issues.

"It should not always be the workers that are at fault and get kicked out. It's time to see how they feel after being kicked out," he said.