Having recorded a profit in February this year, its first positive monthly result in years, the national carrier is ahead of schedule with its restructuring, Bloomberg reported.
“If I had one wish it would be for the implementation of the plan as outlined. No change in strategy, no hesitation over whether it should really be that system,” Mueller said last week at the International Air Transport Associations (IATA) annual general meeting in Dublin.
Mueller, who is now serving a six-month notice period having tendered his resignation as the CEO less than halfway into his 3-year contract, said the company should not unwind the strategy he outlined for the turnaround of the company.
The strategy has seen 6,000 jobs being made redundant and the reduction of the airline’s capacity by about 30%.
Aside from the “tough decisions” on job and route cuts, Mueller also enforced the reduction of aircraft numbers, retiring the entire Boeing 777-200 fleet and negotiating new aircraft lease rates.
“All the tough decisions have been taken, which now leaves the overhaul of the internal processes, such as revenue accounting, as the most pressing issue,” Bloomberg quoted Mueller as saying at the conference.
Since taking over the airline in March 2015, Mueller has directed it away from global markets and toward the Asia-Pacific, in the hope of establishing Kuala Lumpur as a hub for the region instead of being a transit point for travel to Europe.
The German national is also expected to announce an order by MAB for a new fleet of long-range narrow-body aircraft in the next few months, targeting a new category of routes, according to Bloomberg.
“The airline is evaluating Airbus Group SE A321 to serve secondary cities in China and other countries in the area. We are also looking at Boeing’s 737 Max 9,” he told the IATA meeting, adding that currently MAB’s only route that is of a similar range is from Kuala Lumpur to Darwin in Australia.
Mueller will end his term as MAB’s CEO in September, citing personal reasons for his sudden resignation in April.