Bellew a technical guy with hands-on approach

THE restructuring of Malaysia Airlines by Khazanah Nasional Bhd in 2014 saw not only the poaching of Christoph Mueller, but also Peter Bellew as a key person tasked to overhaul the entrenched culture of the “technically bankrupt” airline.

Bellew, the chief operating officer (COO) of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), has now been appointed as executive director following the resignation of its CEO Mueller.

Malaysia Airlines poached Bellew from Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair to serve as its COO on Sept 1, 2015. In that position, Bellew was second-in-command to Mueller.

Bellew’s job, among others, was to get the airline to use its assets as efficiently as possible. When he first started, Bellew noticed that the utilisation of the aircraft could be increased significantly. Should the utlisation rate be improved, MAB could grow without having to buy more aircraft.

In MAB, Bellew is also responsible for all operations at the airline, which include engineering, flight operations and ground operations works. He is also responsible for the pilots and in-flight crew across the fleet of 140 planes.

The Irish Examiner profiles Bellew as a native of Bettystown, Co Meath, where he lived outside Killarney.

In his last position in Ryanair, Bellew was the director of flight operations. He was responsible for pilots at the airline, and the punctuality of the airline’s services.

He held a myriad of different posts at the low-cost carrier, which included director of training and recruitment flight operations, and head of sales and marketing. He worked for Ryanair for nine years.

He managed legal disputes with pilots and previously was responsible for sales and marketing.

He started his career as a travel and air travel specialist, also dealing with Ryanair, some 30 years ago.

In the nineties, he was formerly a senior director in Ireland-based Kerry Airport, where under him, the passenger numbers increased from 6,000 to 400,000.