The Malaysian government’s sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, has picked Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller to lead the restructured and privatized Malaysia Airlines. Mueller’s contract with Aer Lingus ends on May 1 next year, but Khazanah hopes to install the German national as CEO by as early as March 1. It expects to complete the privatization of the company by July 1.
Named Aer Lingus CEO in 2009, Mueller orchestrated that airline’s recovery from heavy losses to profits over the course of one year, even while the Irish market in general languished and European market conditions remained “tepid.” Meanwhile, Aer Lingus led Dublin’s development into one of Europe’s leading hubs for North Atlantic long-haul traffic.
“It is imperative that we have the best available talent with the expertise and experience to help drive the progress of the restructuring effort further forward, lead the airline to profitability and groom a Malaysian successor to assume the leadership of the airline in the future,” said Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. “The government is committed to seeing through the complete overhaul of MAS to its successful conclusion.”
A chronically loss-making enterprise, Malaysia Airlines saw it finances turn completely unsustainable this year with the loss of Flight MH370 on March 8 and the presumed missile strike of Flight MH17 on July 17. The incidents claimed the lives of 524 passengers and crewmembers and led to decision to furlough 30 percent of the airline’s workforce and remove several routes from its long-haul network in favor of Asian regional services.
Plans now call for the delisting of the company from the Malaysian stock market on December 15 as one of the conditions for its total restructuring and Khazahah’s capital injection of RM6 billion ($1.72 billion). The delisting triggers the disbursement of the first tranche of money—RM2 billion ($575 million)—for the repayment to minority shareholders and for working capital and restructuring expenditures.