Idris plays hardball with Tony, again

From The Star today:

MAS wants audit on planes

By WONG SAI WAN

VANCOUVER: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has asked for an independent audit on the 12 planes currently used by FAX to operate the Rural Air Services before it takes over the routes on Oct 1, its managing director Datuk Idris Jala said.

Idris said the audit was to ensure that the planes – seven Fokker F50s and five Twin Otters – were “in the same operational condition” as when MAS handed them over to FAX in August last year.

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After boasting that Air Asia will be able to run the local routes in a much more efficient and profitable manner than MAS, they did an about turn and "persuaded" the government to force MAS to take back the rural air services which was given to Air Asia in an air route rationalization exercise not too long ago. Hats off to Idris who showed he has the guts to stand up to such bullying by insisting that the planes servicing the rural routes be audited to ensure they are airworthy, as well as some taxpayers' money to be used to subsidise those loss-making routes. The subsidy in this instance would be justifiable since it is more of a social service rather than commercial service (I don't think anyone would be able to make money flying these rural routes), and MAS' turnaround success thus far is based on running it purely as a commercial entity. The independent audit, to my mind, is not only a business move (those who use them and potentially broken them must fix them), but also one which places the safety of passengers and crews at the top.

All in all, the leadership shown and decisions made by Idris are showing clear tangible results - a profitable airline again, and a Malaysian company which will make all Malaysians proud. As the plan unfolds further, let's hope that Idris and team will be able to resolve one major outstanding issue in this MAS saga - that of the ownership, purchase, and leasing of the planes themselves. These are currently financed and the losses borned by taxpayers through Penerbangan Malaysian Bhd (PMB). It is only right that when MAS is flying high again, they should have the responsibility to take the planes back, and correct whatever problems left.