Announcing the appointment, MAB’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Bellew said, “On behalf of the management team, I am very pleased to welcome Arved to the Malaysia Airlines family. Arved will focus on developing a comprehensive and sustainable plan to improve Malaysia Airlines’ marketing, sales, products and customer service. He brings with him over 20 years of professional experience in the aviation industry and will add a valuable breadth of understanding across sales, marketing and technological innovation. Arved will play a crucial role in the next phase of the turnaround, focusing on restoring our position as a leading international carrier and developing our innovative customer centric services. He is a welcome addition to the team as we move forward with our global marketing strategy to increase sales and promote the wonders of Malaysia.”

Prior to his appointment, Arved was the Senior Vice President of Commercial Network Operations for Qatar Airways, responsible for global sales strategy and development as well as innovation and technology with a revenue target of more than USD7 billion. Whilst there he managed the roll-out of several successful projects, including the implementation of a new internet sales platform and booking engine.

Before that he spent four years with Swiss International Airlines as Vice President Sales International where he was responsible, amongst other things, for sales and marketing across 18 online markets. Arved also spent over 15 years with Lufthansa Airlines covering a wide breadth of portfolios in revenue management, sales and marketing and left the airline as Managing Director of Greater China.

Arved, who holds a Degree in Economics from the Johann Wolfgang-Goethe University Frankfurt, takes over from current CCO, Paul Simmons who will be leaving in mid-September 2016.

Bellew added “I wish to thank Paul for his contributions to Malaysia Airlines and I look forward to a smooth transition and working with Arved to continue the work began by Paul in the next phase of the airline’s exciting journey”.