A report in The Malaysian Reserve quoted Bellew as saying the present management team would be able to deliver the results via strategies drawn up by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the airline’s sole owner.
“We will fix MAB. I have been here for eight months now and I have never had a moment of doubt about this,” he said.
Bellew, who is also MAB’s COO, said one of the key strategies to return MAB to profitability was to increase sales, which he added “posted very encouraging figures lately”.
He also said MAB was working towards improving sales and revealed that things were “improving quite rapidly”.
“A lot of operational things are also coming together quite well, like on-time performance, ” he said, citing the airlines improved performance in delivering bags on time.
On a separate issue, Bellew revealed that US-based Aircraft Propeller Service LLC was expected to form a partnership with MAB to establish a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre for ATR’s turboprop propellers in Kuala Lumpur.
The centre, he explained, would be the first in the Asia-Pacific region and it would be based at MAB’s MRO hub at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.
Bellew said the facility was expected to start operations later this year, starting with minor repair and maintenance works.
“We plan to expand the operation into major repair and maintenance works, including the propeller blades, in the second half of next year.”