Malaysia Airlines new CEO has warned of huge job cuts ahead, saying the airline is spending about 20% more than its rivals.
In his first internal communication to the airline’s 20,000 employees, CEO Christoph Mueller said the year ahead would be even more difficult than envisaged due to the strong US dollar.
Due to this, MAS has not been able to benefit fully from lower fuel costs, he said.
He also said the wage bill was too high to sustain a competitive business.
“We cannot turn the airline around by fixing the revenue side alone. The contrary is the case. The reason for our precarious situation is mainly our uncompetitive cost levels.
“We share this problem with almost all legacy carriers around the world, and new low-cost carriers are attacking us,” he said in a company-wide email to all employees.
Echoing plans to streamline operations and downsize its fleet of aircraft, Mueller said: “Sometimes we have to retreat and regroup before growing again. That is the ultimate target, we want to grow again in the last phase of the restructuring”.
Mueller said some airline functions would be outsourced.
