NO REBRANDING NEEDED

One of the most silliest remarks about Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is that it will need to focus more on rebranding exercise as one of the ways for the national carrier to turnaround.

AirAsia Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sir Tony Fernandes is the one behind this remarks.

Citing the success stories of AirAsia and Emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in terms of branding, he said, there were huge opportunities for MAS to invest in brands, especially getting people to know more about the airline.

MAS is our national carrier, period. It has remained so until Air Asia came into the picture and offered cheap tickets.

MAS is a good airline. There's no cost problems in MAS. The problem is revenue and the need to rationalise routes.

Tan Sir Tony said AirAsia has invested substantially in building up its brand by sponsoring in sports and cultural activities and it has been proven with the recognition it has gained overseas.

However, it was up to the new chief executive officer to take up the challenge and to deal with the challenges within the company, said Tony, who is also a non-independent non-executive director of MAS.

Despite scepticism from the public and vested interest on MAS-AirAsia collaboration, Tony was optimistic with the future outcome from the partnership.

"I think put in the right management in place, put in the right model in place, focus model. The collaboration between Airasia and MAS, I think MAS has a very rosy future because we are blessed to be in the right part of the world, where there are a lot of people who want to travel," he said on the contrary.