Malaysians ‚Äústupid”, can‚Äôt run an airline

Malaysians ‚Äústupid”, can‚Äôt run an airline
By admin


Malaysia Airlines will have its first foreign chief executive, because nationals are “stupid” and “don’t know how to manage aviation”, according to the country’s ex-Prime Minister.

The remarks by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, as reported by Malaysiakini, were sparked after news broke that the national carrier has poached Ireland’s Aer Lingus’ current ceo, Christoph Mueller, to turn around the beleaguered airline.

"Malaysians are stupid. They don't know how to manage aviation,” Mohamad said, according to the report.

Mueller is set to take the helm around May 1 2015, and has been credited to turning around Aer Lingus, which MAS’s parent company, Khazanah Nasional Bhd hopes will work a second time in lifting Malaysia Airlines’ reputation and bottom line after being hit with two devastating incidents this year.  

Khazanah said it aims to return the carrier to profitability by the end of 2017, which includes being taken private from December 15.

The German chief executive is part of “efforts by the government and Khazanah to lay strong foundations for the future success of our national carrier”, the current Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak said in a statement.

“The government is committed to seeing through the complete overhaul of MAS to its successful conclusion.”

German-citizen Mueller took over Aer Lingus in 2009 and ends his contract as ceo on May 1.

"Discussions are ongoing for Mueller to assume the post of MAS (New Company) ceo at a date prior to May 1, 2015, but no earlier than March 1, 2015," Khazanah said in a statement on Friday.

"MAS-Christoph-Mueller-1.jpg"MAS' new ceo, Christoph Mueller

Pic credit (1): Malaysiakini Lim Huey Teng. (2) Cristoph Mueller – FreeMalaysiaToday

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