Malaysia Airlines to develop medium-term strategy and boost partnerships

Malaysia Airlines (MAB) is developing a medium-term strategy which includes boosting partnerships with other airlines to improve its routes and hopes to break even this year.This is according to newly appointed group CEO Captain Izham Ismail, who was quoted on  The New Straits Times. He added that intermediate strategy is required while MAB grows into a 120-airplane company. The airline plans to collaborate with other major airlines that offer access to important routes in Europe. He added that the value of MAB is "still strong" and that the brand is "even stronger than ever" despite having issues in 2014.The new CEO added that MAB is conscious of the fact that it is unable to directly compete with low-cost airlines on various routes, and sees the need to switch to other routes that are better suited for its business model and aircrafts.Captain Izham added that instead of focusing solely on certain markets, MAB needs to "smartly distribute our basket equally" to include other regions such as China and Indonesia. This ensures that MAB will still have other routes to leverage on if a specific region is not seeing economic gains. Malaysia Aviation Group's restructuring plan, which also includes MAB, will be announced at the end of March this year. Captain Izham said that MAB should have some plans prepared in order to face various possibilities, rather than only having a single plan.In August last year, Malaysia Airlines launched its first in-house Innovation Lab, or iSpace, as the airline entered the third phase of its digital transformation, towards becoming the digital airline. The iSpace was created in collaboration with technology partners and academia such as  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IBM Bluemix, Amadeus, Telekom Malaysia (TM) and University of Malaya.The lab is part of Malaysia Airlines’ continued efforts towards digital transformation and a key component to improve the airline’s customer experience and overall operational efficiency. The lab will serve as a testing ground to incorporate multifaceted aspects of the digital experience.  The 8,300 square-foot facility has a capacity to house 100 people.Meanwhile the airline appointed its new leader, Captain Izham Ismail on 20 October, just a few days after news of its CEO Peter Bellew’s departure.Ismail assumed the role of group CEO on 1 December 2017.Read also:Disrupt rather than be disrupted: What Malaysia Airlines needs from its new CEOMalaysia Airlines marketer: ‘One mistake can wipe out all your previous efforts’