CEO and managing director of Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), Christoph Mueller, has resigned from his post at the beleaguered national carrier and will continue working at the company until September to serve out his six-month notice.
Mueller will then remain on MAB’s board as non-executive director to see through the leadership transition. The airline is currently on the lookout for a new CEO.
The resignation comes as a surprise as it has been less than a year since Mueller took on the top job and was contracted by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sole shareholder of MAB, to implement a turnaround of the carrier over a period of three years.
“While we would have wanted Mueller to continue as planned, we also respect and ultimately agree to his decision to leave ahead of the end of his three-year contract, due to a change in his personal circumstances,” stated Khazanah in a release.
Mueller, known as a turnaround veteran in aviation, first joined MAB in May 2015 to save the ailing airline which went through two concurrent setbacks in 2014 – the disappearance of flight MH370 and the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine. The airline also posted severe net losses at the end of 2014.
According to Khazanah, MAB’s restructuring, which was spearheaded by Mueller, will carry on as planned despite his departure.
