Malaysia Airlines is again on the hunt for a chief executive after Ryanair announced current boss Peter Bellew would return to the Irish budget carrier as chief operating officer.
Bellew, who has been in the job for less than 18 months, is the second chief executive to depart Malaysia Airlines after a short tenure in the past two years.
The announcement came as surprise in Kuala Lumpur and is seen as a response by Ryanair to a pilot rostering scandal that has seen thousands of flights cancelled.
Current Ryanair COO Mike Hickey will leave the Irish carrier at the end of the month and Bellew is expected to take up his new post on December 1.
Malaysia Airlines described the announcement as “unexpected” and noted Bellew had expressed his commitment to the airline at a press conference as recently as September 27, saying airline’s turnaround would be the greatest achievement.
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“The Malaysia Airlines board of directors will meet and an announcement will be made in due course,’’ the airline’s statement said.
“Our operations and services continue as normal, and our commitment and priority remains with our customers. The turnaround of Malaysia Airlines remains on track and on schedule, as per the MAS Recovery Plan.”
Ryanair said on its website that Bellew would take over responsibility for all Ryanair’s flight operations, ground operations and engineering but with a specific responsibility for pilot production, training and career development.
Bellew worked with the Irish carrier until 2014 in positions that included director of flight operations.
The carrier said his mission was “to ensure that the pilot rostering failure which Ryanair suffered in early September will never be repeated”.
“Having worked previously in a senior role in our operations team, Peter has an unrivalled knowledge of our business model and how we maintain controlled growth, with industry leading punctuality, for the benefit of our customers and our people,’’ Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said.
“Peter will lead a significant transformation in the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development over the coming years as we grow the fleet to some 600 aircraft and expand our traffic, at lower fares, to 200m customers per annum.”
Bellew was quoted as saying he was excited to return home to Ryanair.
