The victors and the vulnerable

December 1st 2015

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The revolving door policy at Thai Airways International (THAI) looks set to continue with the news that the country’s prime minister is “dissatisfied” with the carrier’s newest president, Charamporn Jotikasthira, and is about to issue him with a final six month deadline to improve the fortunes of the carrier. Read More » The odds are against success for the former president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand following the announcement in November that the airline had recorded losses of $503 million for the first nine months, to September 30, this year, an increase of 97.2% over the same period last year.

Jotikasthira said the Gulf carriers were part of the blame because they were siphoning off Europe-Asia Pacific traffic that was “flying over our heads”. His problem with the prime minister is that every airline in the region has the same problem and is still making money.

At the AirAsia Group, it has been a difficult year, but also one where the co-founder of the airline and travel conglomerate, Tony Fernandes, has become a spokesman for a much larger issue: arguing for Asean regional standards to address increased demand for pilots and engineers. It is an issue the technical director of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, Martin Eran-Tasker, has long identified as a step change for airline technical recruitment in the region.

Elsewhere in the group, AirAsia’s other co-founder, Datuk Kamarudin, took on the role of group CEO of the AirAsia X Group in January, putting him in charge of AirAsia X Berhad, AirAsia X Thailand and Indonesia AirAsia Extra. Benyamin Ismail, who was initially acting CEO of AirAsia X, is now in charge of the airline.

At Philippine Airlines, Jaime Bautista has returned to the top job, after tobacco tycoon, Lucio Tan, bought back full control of the flag carrier from brewer, San Miguel. The airline plans to have 40 international destinations in operation by its fiscal year end, compared with 25 three years ago, and will add Cebu-Los Angeles in June, its first international service from the central Philippines city.

New Air India boss, Ashwani Lohani, is doing better than expected at the cumbersome and, until now, uncompetitive carrier. An engineer and a government veteran, he is forecast to reduce losses by more than 60%, a result no one predicted as possible when he took over.

In April, Shinya Katanozaka, one of the architects of ANA Holdings, was appointed CEO and president of the group. In June he told Orient Aviation that by 2025, the majority of All Nippon Airways’ growth would come from the airline’s international business. His predecessor, Shinichiro Ito, moved up to chairman of the holding company following Katanozake’s appointment.

 After a rehabilitation plan was approved to keep Japan’s Skymark flying, a new chairman and president were appointed, drawn from the ranks of the two largest shareholders in the restructured carrier. Nobuo Sayama, head of private equity fund, Integral Corp. is now Skymark’s chairman and the president is Masahiko Ichie, a former Bank of Japan managing executive officer.

Christoph Mueller has been in the box seat since May at the flag carrier’s office in Kuala Lumpur, where he planned the strategy for the new airline company, MAB, which is owned by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. Mueller took charge of MAB on September 1, the launch date of the company.