Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) is opposed to the re-branding exercise that the Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) is said to be planning, deeming it "a huge waste of money" and reminiscent of previous management strategies that failed to revive the ailing carrier.

It was reported by The Edge Financial Daily today, quoting sources, that MAB was set to undergo the brand overhaul with a new name, logo and livery for its aircraft, with the changes to be unveiled next month.

"Nufam believes the re-branding exercise of MAB will be a huge waste of money and worse, will bury our national carrier's only surviving pride further.

"It's not about the logo or colour of the company that needs to change, it's the mentality that needs real changing," said the union in its statement today.

The business daily had reported that the re-branding exercise was part of a plan to shed the negative image in the international markets following the twin tragedies of flights MH370 and MH17 last year.

During a media conference in June this year, MAB chief executive officer Christoph Mueller also mentioned that Australia, Europe and China were the three toughest markets in the world to convince that MAS had left its safety problem in the past.

But to Nufam, it is just "each time we see a management change, there will be the same announcement of changing logos or new things in MAS (Malaysian Airline Systems Bhd). We are seeing a typical old MAS management at play".

Further, it said "it is too quick" for MAB to announce a new image "as MAS is still the pride of our nation".

Instead of re-branding, it urged MAB to look at ways to improve its business by exploring new business concepts and destinations that can help the business move forward and enhance working relations with their employees.

It also urged Mueller to understand the priorities of his staffs first before other things.

"There is still fear and lack of confidence in MAB among the staffs, although the management might not see it, the morale of the staffs is very low after what have happened to MAS ... MAB needs to build their confidence if they choose [to have] these employees work with them longer," it added.

Nufam said it is not against new transformation ideas, but stressed that it strongly believes that after what the staffs have gone through with the massive shake up at the national carrier, changing logos is not something they want to see taking place in MAB now.

"We need to see better management and employees' policies in place first before they could embark on the next course of action," it said, adding that it has been receiving negative feedback from staff on some new work policies, like no longer being provided transport to work, which is burdensome to those needing to travel to and from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)

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