Is MAS serious about joining Oneworld?

by weechookeong

En Mohammed Rashdan Yusoff aka Danny, Tan Sri Azman Mokthar's crony and ex-business partner in BinaFikir Sdn Bhd talking about "PERFORMANCE". Performance by spending 18 million Pound to sponsor QPR and cutting routes to benefit AA?

YM Tengku Azmil, the previous MD of MAS, who resigned immediately after the signing of the secret MAS – AirAsia share swap and the Comprehensive Collaborative Agreements (CCF) on 9-8-2011, has signed an MOU withOneworld on 5-6-2011. Oneworld is an alliance comprises of 12 IATA airlines. MAS was supposed to formerly join the Oneworld in September/October  last year. Read inHERE, HERE, & HERE.

After inking the said secret share swap, Tan Sri Azman Mokthar and his former business partner in BinaFikir Sdn Bhd and crony, En Mohammed Rashdan Yusof (Rashdan) seemed to be extremely busy promoting their pet project, the said secret share swap and the so-called CCF.  At that material time, the Oneworld membership was not the priority of En Mohammed Rashdan Yusof (Rahsdan).

Rashdan’s priorities then were to cancel full load Firefly flights during the Raya season, terminate the Firefly JB to Kuching and Kota Kinablu sectors and fly to London on 18-8-2011 (10 days after the said secret share swap) to sign the sponsorship for home jersey for QPR costing MAS 18 million Pound. At that material time, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, is the substantial share in QPR. By the way Genting paid only 17 million Pound to sponsor home and away jersey of Aston Villa. Well, Rashdan was just doing his duty to help a friend.

The above were the GREAT efforts shown by Rashdan, the former business partner and crony of Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, to SAVE MAS from the brink.

Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar has been boasting about theSTRATEGIC ALLIANCE between MAS and AirAsia, and it will save MAS but he or his crony, Rashdan, have never uttered a word about the real STRATEGIC ALLIANCE inOneworld membershipwhich involved 12 other IATA airlines.

Joining Oneworld alliance is the most logical thing for MAS to do under the present conditions. SIA and Thai have joined Star Alliance which has a membership of 27 IATA airlines. Of course, AirAsia cannot be a member as it is not an IATA airlines.

Yours truly has been asking AJ, Tan Sri Azman Mokthar’s crony, Rashdan, to expedite MAS membership into Oneworld which will be beneficial to MAS then the secret share swap and CCF. But it fell on deaf ears because these little napoleons were more interested in the so-called CCF with AirAsia. Under the CCF, MAS/Firefly was cutting routes to Bandung, KK to Tokyo, Korea, Dubai, and etc, spending MAS fund senselessly to help their friend like the sponsorship of QPR jersey. But AirAsia did not sacrifice anything for MAS.

It would appear that the thoughtless actions of cutting routes have benefitted AirAsia. The AirAsia fares to Bandung and KK and Kuching have increased as a result of the monopoly. MYCC has announced that it has commenced the investigations into the said secret share swap and CCF. Quite rightly so. Many have expressed no confidence in the MYCC investigations. We should allow MYCC to finish its investigation before we judge. However, we should also lodge complaints with the anti-trust commissions in other jurisdictions like UK, Australia, Korea, USA and other countries that MAS and AirAsia fly to. This is to ensure that the said secret share swap and CCF will be also scrutinised by other jurisdictions so that no stone will be left unturned.

Coming back to the Oneworld membership, AJ suddenly woke up to realise the importance of Oneworld membership to MAS and he sent out a circular dated 16-1-2012 to inform MAS staff of the benefits of the Oneworld alliance. MAS staff already knew about the benefits of the membership into Oneworld as they have been properly briefed by the previous administration under YM Tengku Azmil where many man hours have been spent on it.

It was a bit late for AJ. However, it is better late than never. AJ did not give a specific date that MAS will join Oneworld. He merely said that MAS will “come on board of this alliance formally in 2012″.  Was MAS serious in joining Oneworld alliance? It is still a big question mark bearing in mind the intentions of the said secret share swap and the so-called CCF.  By the way, Kingfisher Airlines waste no time and it will be a full fledge member of Oneworld on 10-2-2012 (less than a month away from now) whereas MAS is still talking about it with no specific date of joining.

Was AJ serious about his latest e-mail? Has he consulted Tan Sri Azman Mopkthar and his crony, Rashdan, about Oneworld? Is MAS membership into Oneworld be of any benefit to AirAsia? Most probably not!

At long last AirAsia X Sdn Bhd has finally announced that in February it will abandon its routes to  London, Paris and etc solely based on non-profitability, which was contrary to all the publicities that it was doing so well. Yours truly just wonder whether MAS will be asked to absorb all the passengers who have booked and paid for their AirAsia X’s flights to London and Paris after February.

Please read an interesting article about the crony by Jebat Must Die.

Here is the e-mail to all MAS staff about Oneworld.

CIRCULAR FROM GROUP CEO

To        : All Staff System-wide

Date     : 16 January 2012

Ref       : GCEO/CIR 004/12

Dear Colleagues,

At our recent MH Pulse Townhall on 7 December 2011, I shared with you details of the Malaysia Airlines Business Plan – Our Way Forward which emphasised that one of the four Game Changers for our airline to remain profitable and competitive is to be a member of a quality alliance and develop strategic partnerships.

As you all know, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 5 June 2011 to join oneworld alliance which currently has 11 of the biggest and best names in the global airline industry and 20 affiliated carriers. Malaysia Airlines and two more carriers (Kingfisher Airlines and airberlin) will come on board this alliance formally in 2012.

oneworld has a proven positive track record, having retained the World Travel Awards’ World’s Leading Airline Alliance consecutively for eight times. Being the sole oneworld member airline for South East Asia, Malaysia Airlines will be looking to leverage on the alliance’s fine reputation and link both our domestic and regional destinations to its vast network for the success of our Business Plan.

Benefits of alliance

With increasing customer demand for a truly global network, the value proposition of an alliance membership is extremely high. In fact, the three big alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance) now account for around two thirds of the world’s scheduled airline capacity and 21 of the world’s 25 biggest airlines are alliance members.

Our partnership with strong airline brands within oneworld will therefore enable our customers to enjoy more benefits and rewards like:

1.     Greater connectivity to a truly global network with smoother transfers
2.     Global recognition and rewards (including access to airline lounges around the world) for top tier Enrich members
3.     Attractively priced on-line alliance fares (like oneworld fares, Global Explorer fares)

Under the oneworld employee travel agreement, staff of the Malaysia Airlines group will also enjoy higher boarding priorities when travelling on duty and leisure on any of oneworld member airlines.

Our readiness for full acceptance

Our entry into this reputable alliance is guided by Qantas, backed by oneworld’s central alliance team and we must comply with an extensive set of joining requirements and conditions which include:

1.     IT integration and frequent flyer programme exchange agreements with all oneworld members
2.     Incorporating processes to recognise frequent flyers from other oneworld members
3.     Maintaining a stipulated oneworld standard in our levels of service and
4.     Harmonising our service levels with other members

A core project team of 5 members led by Ivy Chew and a cross-functional integration team consisting of subject matter experts in the respective areas were established to oversee and execute the integration plan. These staff teams work very hard and provide progress updates at the steering committee meetings chaired by me once every two months. The full list of the team members are:

Our role

As staff of the Malaysia Airlines group, we all have an important role in this journey to proudly position our company as a full fledged member of the oneworld fraternity.
Towards this purpose, we are also arranging regular briefings to key leaders of the various business process areas so that they share the updates with all.
The first briefing workshop on brand, communication and training was held in Malaysia Airlines Academy from 13 to 14 December 2011. Participants at this workshop have been asked to cascade the key outcomes to their heads of divisions/departments and to the staff.

When we achieve full compliance we will experience and feel the oneworld presence throughout the group and will be an active contributor of our premier carrier service delivery to oneworld member customers. It is therefore critical that our collective efforts and strengths are harnessed to meet the year end 2012 timeline for full membership.

We will reach out to you all with more communication on the progress of our preparedness as well as how your respective areas will be further involved in the implementation and execution of this entry into this alliance.

I am confident that with your undivided support, Malaysia Airlines entry into oneworld will be impressive and meaningful to elevate the reputation of the company to even greater heights.

Thank you.

AHMAD JAUHARI YAHYA