A DESIRE TO RESUME THE MAS CORRUPTION: 'HEAVY POLITICS' FORCED MUELLER'S DEPARTURE - UNION

With Christoph Mueller stepping down as the Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) chief executive officer in September, MAB will experience more "leakages" again, the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) says.

"We foresee with Mueller's sudden departure, it will certainly bring about another chapter of leakages in MAB again," Nufam said in a statement today.

However, the union added, it was not surprised with Mueller's decision to quit before his contract expires in two years.

Mueller probably could not cope with the underlying problems in the national airline, Nufam said.

"There are endless issues which are not over yet and not being discussed outside of the meeting room.

"Somehow, we knew this day will come someday, but we never thought it would be this soon," the union said.

As it predicted last year, Nufam pointed out, Mueller has a bigger challenge than just recovering losses for MAB.

"It's also about the legacies and politics that gets in his way," it said.

Nufam added that it has been informed that some ideas were ditched last minute and decisions were reversed without proper consultation with Mueller.

It believes Mueller could not handle the heavy politics involved in MAB, not to mention the stiff competition with the other airlines.

"It's not an easy task as we have forecast that MAB may not come out of the woods as early as projected.

"It's all wishful thinking," Nufam said.

Mueller's appointment changed little

The problems MAB faced after the MH370 and MH17 disasters are "enough to take Mueller downhill", it noted, adding that the number of unsettled legal issues against the national airline will also not stop growing.

The union lamented that Mueller's appointment changed little in the end as it has not seen any major changes and the money spent to turn the airline around was "wasteful" and "not well-projected".

"It's upsetting to see whatever amount of money and energy that was spent to build MAS again is now stuck back in the mud.

"All we hope now is to see MAB get back on its feet and the staff are given the booster they deserve," Nufam said.

Something is not right within MAB, it said, and it wants answers from the national airline, such as who will take over after Mueller and will that person be qualified to enact real changes.

"How certain will the new guy be able to steer the airline back to what was planned earlier?

"It's like now there is a huge crack in the ship and when there is a leak, all hell will break loose again," Nufam added. - M'kini