Published on Tuesday, 27 September 2016 10:02 

Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) chief executive officer Peter Bellew who was recently spotted onboard an AirAsia aircraft received praise from its group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

In Fernandes’ Instagram posting, the Irishman was seen posing for a snap with the low-cost carrier’s flight crew.

“Nice to see MAS CEO on AirAsia. Looks like a good man,” Fernandes captioned about the Malaysian flag carrier’s new successor.

Fernandes who has been in a row with Malaysian Airports Berhad (MAHB) over the KLIA2 terminal being a low-cost hub, further injected that airport charges in the terminal should not be increased.

“By the way airport charges can't be the same. KLIA is far far superior to lcc@KLIA2. No escalator at aerobridge. No aero train. Constant reworking on tarmac, not enough walkalators, tiny departure hall and the list is endless,” he chipped in. 

Meanwhile Bellew, who was named CEO on July 1, has said MAS is showing steady progress in its turnaround plan and is eyeing on getting the airline to breakeven by the fourth quarter of next year, and to be profitable for the full year in 2018.

He believes during the ongoing turnaround, the airline will have to be "a bit more imaginative" on how it markets the aircraft. On its six A380s, which it plans to phase out in 2018, he said the aircraft will be perfect to fly Muslim pilgrims for the haj and umrah for the next 20 years.

“The Boeing B747-400, which normally does that (servicing the haj and umrah market), is coming to the end of its life and this means the A380 will be the only logical replacement,” he was reported saying in an interview.

The airline has also been offering super competitive fares which has worked in their favour to regain a higher percentage, especially via the Kuala Lumpur–London routes that are completely full on average.

“We have about an 8% market share on the London route and have seen a general increase in market share of 3% and 4% in other routes generally,” said Bellew who believes there is a great future for the aircraft.

-mD