MAS commercial director Dunleavy resigns

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has announced the resignation of its director of commercial Dr Hugh Dunleavy (pic), with effect from August 31, 2015, Bernama reported today.

In a statement, the airline said a search to identify a suitable successor, both internally and externally, is currently under way.

Meanwhile, new MAS chief executive officer Christoph Mueller will take over responsibilities as chief commercial officer effective June 1, 2015 to ensure a smooth transition until an individual has been identified for the role, the airline said.

Dunleavy joined MAS in January 2012, and was brought in to lead the national carrier's new network, alliance, strategy and planning division at the time. He was to help leverage strategic partnerships with other airlines.

This made sense as he had extensive experience in the airline industry having previously worked for Lufthansa, Star Alliance and Air Canada. His role prior to joining MAS was as WestJet's executive vice-president, commercial distribution. He joined WestJet in 2005 as vice-president of revenue.

Dunleavy is said to be one of London’s brightest expats, in a report published by The Evening Standard in June last year.

Having grown up in Ealing, Dunleavy took a PhD in Theoretical Physics with an undergraduate degree in Physics at Sheffield University before starting his career working for the UK's Ministry of Defence.

In the interview with The Evening Standard, Dunleavy said that he was the first to arrive at the airline’s emergency control room on the morning of March 8, after an emergency text was sent out to the management on the disappearance of MAS flight MH370.

He told the paper that it was three hours after MH370 lost contact that the air traffic controllers – having tried and failed to get a response from the plane and from radar controllers in Vietnam, Hong Kong and China – sent that emergency text.

“My first thought was that the pilot had fallen asleep, or something had gone wrong with the communication system.

“We had five other aircraft in the sky nearby, so our senior pilots started contacting them, asking if they’d seen MH370, getting them to ping it. But we got no response," he was quoted as saying by The Evening Standard.

In November, Dunleavy had revealed to The New Zealand Herald that both the Australian and Malaysian governments were in talks to set a date for the formal announcement of the loss of MH370.

He added that once MAS had an official loss recorded, it would work with the next-of-kin on the full compensation payments.

This news was criticised by the families of those on board the missing aircraft, but it was eventually proved right when the plane was officially declared "lost in an accident" in an announcement made by the Malaysian government on January 29. – May 12, 2015.