Posts Tagged ‘airlines’

The recent financial announcement that MAS may have recorded a loss of about RM2.5 Billion for Financial Year 2011 is so SICKENING AND GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT! WHY?

Almost all of MAS People seem to work very hard at every business process everyday BUT still MAS recorded great loss and wonder when she will make good profits again?

Some of Ramli’s friends have worked with MAS many decades already and what Ramli heard from them that many “foreign workers even engineers” are now in MAS and local Malaysians seem to be at lost and wandering around with no specific directions or mission to make MAS a NO.1 Airline of ASEAN what more the world.”Air Asia” people are also now infusing into MAS processes but still the impact of Air Asia smartness and passion is still not effecting MAS performance or bottomlines?

Ramli having read about Steve Jobs(SJ) iLeadership Ways and Best Practices was just asessing the SJ Ways if introduced in MAS Business and what real impacts or outcomes can MAS expect?

Lets see:

  • Focus on products -MAS need to focus on domestic or overseas travels.Which is the Top Priority and MONEY Spinner!
  • Talented People hired to work with MAS -sorry to say the current CEO is not an airline expert so understanding 100% of the airline business may not be so airline savvy.SJ was Tech Genius and knows the Tech Business like 1000%
  • People at Apple are willing to sacrifice their time just to achieve the Top Player award no tidak apa attitude or dont disturb me during my off time unlike SJ who expect his Team to be ready for answers anytime he called them even at home!
  • SJ will reward and recoqnise all good work and results by personally meeting his people and congratulating them!
  • Never rest on past achievements even though the cash flow is rolling high but keep on improving the products all the time..
  • Always ask “what will the customer’s expereince be” if they open up our apple’s packaging?Same like what will MAS customers’ feel when they are in MAS Air Terminals like KLIA?
  • Talent Recruitment not the work of HR Director or Manager only but like SJ (CEO) he will also identify TOP Talents and invite to work with Apples.Can MAS CEO also do the same?
  • Teambuilding is KEY to Apple’s Great Success and SJ really “turun padang” and meet his Team to identify their problems,help eliminate the problems and find new areas of improvements…
  • and many more what SJ’s Way can also help MAS to be Great Company like Apple (as today is the richest company with biggest market capitalisation above USD500Billion in value!

Lets hope MAS will be GREAT again but to do that the Leadership and People at MAS must think right,act fast and get results at all costs.Focus is key,passion to the mission to be top airline is also important.Making profits and improving the Cash Flow is also KEY and like SJ never say no or give up and lose out to all opponents and distractors!

MAS have been a Top Airline before and MUST now become TOP Again not by wasted efforts,poor leadership and lose focus!

If only Steve Jobs is around maybe MAS can have a new passion and mission to get things done the SJ Way?

Contact Ramli (if interested) at hp:+6019-2537165 or emailed at ramlipromoter@yahoo.com

Do you know how much money Malaysian Govt,GLCs,MNCs and PLCs spend for International Consultants professional services and consultancy work?Yes,true many hundred millions of USD not Ringgit please!Are they successful in their consultancy and proposals to all those Malaysian entities?Based on all the problems of these entities the answer is NO.Why NO?

Of course the success of any organisation is the LEADERSHIP Factor!

The consultants are hired to advise and recommend whats best BUT if the LEADERSHIP play the game of “Touch N GO” style of management where there is lack of hard work,no gemba style of mgmt and worst still if they practise “Bottom Line Results” type of managing on day to day terms rather than paying close attention to such operational details like people performance,processes,products and services quality,promotions work and many others (basically operational matters that make the company perform well)then the OUTCOME is due to be bad to worst and not good to great like what most quality or world class companies do well always!

Maybe its time to get CEOs from engineering or HR background and let the accountants excel as CFOs of their respective companies since they managed by studying numbers and money they love to sit in their cool rooms and think&decide rather than go to the site and study all the facts and datas for achieving Great Business Results.

MAS have done well their initial Business Turnaround and Business Transformation Projects when Datuk Seri Idris Jala was brought in from Shell to get MAS out of debts and bankruptcy and he also showed that MAS can make their biggest profits in 60 years tenure of almost RM800 Million!WOW!

The BTP2 was also planned and engineered to ensure MAS will become a 5Star valued carrier and not like AirAsia a World Class Low Cost Carrier!If the focus is MAKE LOTS OF PROFITS then who made most a 5Star Valued Carrier or a World Class Low Cost Carrier?

MAS must benchmarked with the same apple to apple type of carrier ie like with SIA or Emirates or even Thai Airways?The business model and scope of business is very much different since Premium Airlines or 5Star Valued Carriers pay lots of attention on High Quality Service,Great F&B,Service both in the air and on ground  with execellence,high trained crew and airline staff,continual improvement efforts,teamwork,economic costs to achieve high profits and all other subjects that can fully satisfy the customers of economy,business and first class!The satisfaction of employees must also be taken into consideration to become an airline of world class standards all the time!

So whats interesting to know especially by Ramli is what actually happened after the quick departure of Datuk Seri Idris Jala to Head PEMANDU in the PM’s Dept who showed that MAS can make RM800 Million profits in a year (record in 60 years of MAS history) and also left all the Business Plans for MAS to maintain and excel as a 5 Star Valued Carrier?Why the sudden drop of good performance to the brink of bankcrupt again and where Top Bosses at Khazanah Nasional Berhad and MAS Board easily agree the fast way out by inviting Tan Sri Tony Fernandes of Air Asia by not offering the post of CEO of MAS (Tony is also the Group CEO of AirAsia) but a share swap and enable Tony to acquire about 20% of MAS,thats a better deal maybe to Tony!Now we wait the actual results of MAS whether this “magic wand of Tony Fernandes” can make MAS to the road or flight of great profits and improve share price and market capitalization?

To Ramli,if the CEO of MAS or the POWERS OF MAS just sit in their cool office rooms and does not Go Gemba then this dream of MAS making profits again and being respected for her MH tagline will never be achieved and become another nightmare and maybe  the worst kind!

Hey,where is Datuk Seri Idris Jala?Ramli have not read any serious remark or comment on why MAS is a failure again and on the verge of bankruptcy?Please Datuk Seri,your comments,advice and remarks is so important!

GTP and ETP will not be a success story if your past BTP1 and BTP2 at MAS cannot sustained her performance to ensure continued success even though the leadership change because the plans are good and can sustained her performance!Its all about Continual Improvement and More Breakthroughs!

Luckily MAS is not offered to Foreign Powers or Investors otherwise we may lose our long standing NATIONAL ASSET that we have owned since 1947 till now!

Ramli can be contacted at hp:+6019-2537165 or email at ramlipromoter@yahoo.com

Lets see what other Bosses at MAS and Khazanah Nasional Berhad are saying on this Hot Subject of MAS-AirAsia

Saturday August 13, 2011

Rashdan: MAS off to a good start

The same team that crafted and undertook the widespread asset unbundling (WAU) exercise a decade ago to bail out the then debt-ridden Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on the brink of bankruptcy is back on board. And on Tuesday, MAS tied up with its once arch rival AirAsiafounders Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun. This marks yet another fresh start for MAS which has seen more than its fair share of restructuring, turnaround and transformation plans in the past decade.

The idea for the collaboration is to get MAS to do what it’s best at being a focused full premium service carrier. The newly-set up executive committee led by new MASchairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof met for the first time on Thursday. It plans to scrutinise every single document, contract, strategy, profit and cost centre to weed out the weak areas and bolster the airline’s financial status.

StarBizWeek’B.K. SIDHU met up with MAS’ newly-appointed executive director Mohammed Rashdan Yusof (pic), who says the team is off to a good start. Below are excerpts of the interview:

SBW: What is the biggest problem facing MAS?

Rashdan: If you look at its operating statistics, the airline’s cost is one of the best versus other full service carriers. Its cost per ASK is competitive but the RASK (revenue per available seat km) is suffering. It (lacks) the ability to charge on a global basis, and this in turn is connected to our products. What we need is quality. We need a product which is highly competitive, the likes of the Middle Eastern airlines, and not Singapore Airlines alone. They are formidable competitors and we need to be at least at par or better.

Our strength clearly lies in our service the golden girls, the golden touch, the Malaysian touch, Malaysian hospitality. Hopefully people will pay what it’s worth and we can raise yields and RASK. We want to bring back the golden days that is how we made money and that is how we want to continue to make money. It is a simple strategy. We need to get back to that.

Do you agree that share swap does not address the fundamental need to manage revenue?

RASK is about revenue quality. In the past, the airline did a lot of global sales. We had revenue but now we want high quality revenue such as high yields and high RASK. People will only pay high yields and RASK if the product and service is good. So we will continue to maintain our competitive edge in services, both cabin and ground crew and also our inflight products. The good thing now is that we will no longer be distracted or detracted.

The A380 aircraft is coming in May. That will be a class of its own. Tony and Kamarudin have a fantastic relationship with Airbus and we can do a lot of things with them on our side. They are a clear asset … the way they negotiate for engines, spare parts and even planes and their cost savings culture. We could use all of that expertise at MAS.

Do you have the buy-in from the employees?

We met the union leaders and to my sweet surprise they are fully behind us. They understand that if we succeed, so will they. The rest is about execution and the new team will not let them down.

Where will immediate savings come from?

At our very first exco meeting, we identified savings in procurement. I can’t tell you where as we have not told our suppliers yet. They are capital expenditures and are large.

We have looked at the detailed study done by Bain & Co and the figure is up to RM1.2bil cost savings jointly.

The immediate areas will be training, (the whole gamut of) procurement from aircraft, spares, engines to simulators. As for funding, we can look at new ways of financing our aircraft purchase. In training, both of us have simulators and facilities. We will look at how we can share and have best practices.

What is the cash situation at MAS?

It is manageable and we have in excess of RM1.6bil. Obviously we have very large deliveries in the pipeline in terms of aircraft and these are for replacement of the aging B747 aircraft which have a high fuel burn. But with the new B737 and the A380 coming in, we immediately move to a higher productivity platform. If we use these new aircraft for our thick trunk routes, and promise improvement of product, which we assure you will be second to none in the region, surely people will pay more for it.

(That will lead to) fuel ASK improvement, and yield and RASK improvements. If we are able to demonstrate that and generate positive cashflow, the financing will surely come.

There has been much criticism over WAU, which you were also part of. Your comment.

WAU was successful in that it saved the airline from the brink of bankruptcy in 2001/2002. It gave the then MD Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof a platform to put into place operational restructuring, which he did. If you look back at the share price chart right up to his last day, it peaked during his tenure and shareholder revenues increased. So it is up to MAS to continue the good work he has done. Md Nor did financial restructuring and the managers (his successor) should have followed through.

Now his return as chairman is more meaningful as he understands the industry well.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge that could derail these big plans?

The biggest risk is if we take our eyes off the ball on how difficult this is to execute. It is not an easy ride.

The global economic outlook points to a double dip. Will this throw a spanner in the works on your plans?

Economic cycles come and go. But when the cycle is going up, you better be sure you are there to milk it. That comes in well with our aircraft deliveries. The future is for our taking. We just have to make sure we have the capacity to deploy and take advantage of it. Of course, we will face fierce competition from the usual suspects Garuda, China carriers that have identified Asia as their playground, the Middle Eastern carriers and Qantas, Jetstar … Why on earth should we retract when Asia is the playground?

To compete with SIA or Emirates, you need connectivity, frequency and comfort. How do you stack up?

We are seriously looking at launching the premium segment for short-haul carrier and that will serve us a strong feeder network. We already have the resources from Firefly jet services and that resources can be directed for full services proposition. It takes only months to realise this.

Three years from now, will we have to hear the story again of why MAS failed?

Three years from now, the only airline you will want to fly is MAS.