Malaysia Airlines Berhad has secured its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the country's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) in time for a September 1 'relaunch' of Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International). Launched in July, Malaysia Airlines Berhad (NewCo) is a vehicle for the migration of Malaysia Airlines' relevant operations, assets and liabilities after its predecessor Malaysian Airline System Berhad (MAS) was placed into receivership in May.
“We would like to thank the Director General of DCA, Dato’ Sri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman for this very important milestone," MAB’s CEO Designate Christoph Mueller said. "The AOC is a testament to all our staff at Malaysia Airlines who have been working hard to fulfill all the necessary requirements and specifications by DCA. We are very excited and focused on MAB's take-off in September.”
The move is part of Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah's 12-point strategy to revitalize the struggling national carrier which between 2010 and 2013, racked up losses of USD1.3 billion. In line with its launch this week, Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) has already rehired a more streamlined staff compliment of approximately 14,000 from the soon-to-be-defunct MAS's reserve of 20,000.
