Malaysia Aviation Group Announces New Leadership

KLIA, 19 November 2018: Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) announced the appointment of Philip See as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Firefly, effective 1st January 2019.

Philip, whose appointment was announced internally earlier, is currently the Head of Strategy and Network for Malaysia Airlines, reporting directly to the Group Chief Executive Officer. He joined the airline in 2015 from consulting firm McKinsey & Company where he was an associate. He is however, no stranger to the Group having previously served in the Turnaround Management Office (TMO) in Malaysia Airlines, back in 2004. Under the TMO he was responsible for implementing the Business Turnaround Plan and consequently the Business Transformation Plan. Philip left the airline in 2010 and rejoined Malaysia Airlines in 2015 as a Network Planner.

Before joining Malaysia Airlines in 2004, Philip was with Deutsche Bank as a Financial Analyst in the London office, looking at equity and mergers and acquisition (M&A) markets in the Asia Pacific region. He was also a consultant with Arthur D. Little, before joining the airline.

Philip holds a 1st Class Honours degree in Chemical Engineering (MEng) from Imperial College London, UK. With his experience across the different disciplines within finance, strategy and network both in Malaysia and abroad, Philip understands the complexities of the business and will bring to Firefly a wide breadth of knowledge.

Philip will be replacing Ignatius Ong who joined Malaysia Airlines as Group Chief Revenue Officer in June 2018. Ignatius has since been double-hatting as CEO of Firefly and Group Chief Revenue Officer.

In his role as Group Chief Revenue Officer, Ignatius oversees Sales and Revenue Management for the entire Group. Ignatius has almost 15 years of professional experience in the aviation industry and is no stranger to revenue management having previously covered route and revenue under the then Turnaround Management Office. He has also headed the whole portfolio of Sales, Distribution and Marketing under the Project Management Department of Malaysia Airlines.

Other changes in the management also include Ibrahim Mohamed Salleh as CEO of MABKargo effective 1 September 2018 and Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin as CEO of Project Amal effective 1 October 2018.

Ibrahim has over 20 years of experience in various fields within Cargo Handling with the company. Prior to his appointment as CEO MABKargo, he was Chief Operating Officer of PT Jasa Angkasa Semesta (a subsidiary of SATS Limited, Singapore).

Hazman was with Khazanah Nasional Berhad where he served in various roles across the organisation. This included Senior Vice President of Khazanah Europe Investment Limited based in London. Prior to London, Hazman was the Vice President of the Khazanah Turkey Regional Office based in Istanbul. He also had a short stint with British Telecom Plc and the GSM Association based abroad.

Malaysia Aviation Group CEO Izham Ismail said, ”I am confident that the new leadership will bring new energy and purpose to the business. The diversity of our new leaders, their backgrounds and experience will help us reach our goals as a Group.”