KUALA LUMPUR: The management team at the new Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) group may consist of some familiar faces from the soon-to- be-defunct Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), said its new chief executive officer (CEO) Christoph R Mueller.

“I cannot discuss it in public, but let me give you an example. If you have a soccer team that has fallen from the first [division] to the second, will you change the situation and change all the 11 players at the same time? Certainly not. Thus, we need to assess the situation [at MAB],” he said at the Global Airport Development Asia 2015 conference here yesterday.

Mueller was responding to a question by visiting professor at Cranfield University Professor Rigas Doganis, who had asked whether MAB would have a totally new management team with Mueller at the helm.

Mueller also conceded that the decisions made by the previous management team of MAS led by former group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had probably resulted in the current loss-making situation.

MAS’ net loss widened to RM1.33 billion in the nine months ended Sept 30, 2014 from RM830.25 million a year earlier. The ailing national carrier was delisted from Bursa Malaysia on Dec 15, 2014.

“It’s not only the question of the individuals, but also how they play [as teammates], what type of coaching they get, [and] what kind of training regimen. Even me,” said Mueller, using football as a metaphor for getting managers in his new management team.

“We have to get a winning team. The decision in the past has most probably led to the situation today. I’m in the middle of the assessment. Stay tuned,” he added.

MAB is in the midst of rehiring some 14,000 employees from MAS under new contracts, as part of a RM6 billion restructuring plan.

Apart from Mueller, MAS’ shareholder Khazanah Nasional Bhd has yet to announce the complete list of its board members and senior management team for MAB.

On June 8, Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar claimed that Ahmad Jauhari had been rehired as a member of the board of MAB, but this was not confirmed by MAB or Khazanah.

Mueller declined to comment on the recent call by the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) — which represents about 1,500 MAS cabin crew members — for the airline to withdraw all termination letters to employees within 48 hours. The union had threatened to hold a tools down protest if the demand were not met.

On the possibility of a new share swap deal with AirAsia Bhd taking place like the scrapped deal between the two companies in 2012, Mueller said he is a strict opponent of monopoly and would advocate for at least two carriers to compete in a country.

“I am a strict opponent of this (monopoly). Very simply, from a macroeconomy perspective, two carriers would keep the fares low.

“Monopoly is not good for consumers, particularly domestic. If prices from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu or Kuching are subject to a monopolistic situation, it is not good for the economy and not good for the country,” he added.

MAS and AirAsia were fined RM10 million each by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) for distorting the domestic aviation service in September 2013.

According to AirAsia X Bhd acting CEO Benyamin Ismail, who was present at yesterday’s event, the share swap deal was mooted by the government.

“It was mooted by the government. It happened between Tony (AirAsia group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes), Khazanah and the prime minister on a flight to New York. That’s it, anything else is part of history.

“It failed because it did not give enough opportunity to turn around,” Benyamin added.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 12, 2015.