MAG chief confident airline can ‘ride the turbulence’ despite industry headwinds

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Malaysian Aviation Group will be able to ‘ride the turbulence’ facing the aviation industry, with group president and chief executive officer Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar expressing confidence in the strength of his team and the organisation as he steps into his new role. — Picture by Raymond Manuel

By Soo Wern Jun

Thursday, 02 Apr 2026 4:34 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Malaysian Aviation Group (MAG) will be able to “ride the turbulence” facing the aviation industry, with group president and chief executive officer Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar expressing confidence in the strength of his team and the organisation as he steps into his new role.

Without sugarcoating the current crises that he has to take on shortly after assuming his role on February 1, he admitted that the task at hand is difficult.

“I have been with the company for 32 years, and I understand the industry, the ups and downs.

“When I took over on February 1, I thoroughly understand the industry and having said that, as I mentioned, the crisis is something real in this industry. It’s just… as the president of the company, and also the organisation, we are agile enough to ride the turbulence accordingly.

“Is it difficult? Of course it is difficult. I can tell that most of the CEOs, all the CEOs of the airlines are cracking their heads on how to resolve this,” Nasaruddin told a media briefing here today.

Expressing confidence, he said that with the management the group has today, they will be able to navigate the ongoing industry challenges.

“I have a very strong team… to support me, and with the management team we’ve got today, I have a strong belief we are able to ensure that we can ride the turbulence accordingly and will recover and take opportunities from the crisis.”

On hitting targets, Nasaruddin said MAG would continue to adjust its approach in-line with market demand, rather than relying on fixed targets.

“We will continue to review and adjust… it’s always about demand,” he said, pointing to strong travel interest from key markets such as China and India.

He said the group is also preparing to expand its network further, with several new sectors expected to be announced tomorrow, while maintaining a focus on profitability.

“Provided the P&L (profit and loss) is positive, we will continue to fly,” he added.

At the same time, MAG is working to mitigate the impact of rising fuel costs, which remain highly volatile.

“We are doing our level best to mitigate the hike in fuel cost, maximising our yield and revenue, and our fare pricing, it has to be competitive, that’s very important.

“Whether we going to end positive that’s another thing, because today fuel prices rose by more than US$20 (RM80) compared with yesterday. Imagine if it increases by more than US$20 tomorrow; it’s so volatile,” he said.

Operationally, he said the group has had to adjust its network in response to geopolitical disruptions, particularly in the Middle East.

Flights to Jeddah and Medina were temporarily suspended at the onset of the crisis, while services to Doha remain suspended until April 15.

“Every day, our intelligence and security team will review the scope of security and safety, whether we can resume our flights.

“All in all, we cancelled four flights to Doha and also cargo to Middle East, but having said that, we are looking at other hubs for our cargo flights going into the EU from the East, so the number is revolving,” he said.

Despite the disruptions, he stressed that the group remains focused on safety, agility and readiness to respond to changing conditions.

“But we as a group we are ready and prepared in terms of our people and we need to ensure that our products are ready to fly to these sectors,” Nasaruddin said.