The appointment came into effect Nov 1, The Star Online said.

Group CEO Peter Bellew said he was confident that Izham, who was previously the chief executive officer of MAB’s regional airline subsidiary MASwings, would lead his division to new levels of excellence.

“With close to 36 years of experience in the aviation industry, and having just completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School, I am confident that he will be able to lead the operations and engineering division to new levels of excellence.

“Being our own internal home grown talent, I look forward to working closely with him in delivering operational excellence to the entire group.” he said.

Izham trained as a pilot from the Philippines Airline Aviation School and while at Malaysia Airlines operated various aircraft including the Fokker 27, Airbus 330 and Boeing 747.

Besides various management roles, he is also presently a board director for Hamilton Sundstrand Malaysia, MAB Kargo, MAB Academy and MAS Awana, among others.

Meanwhile Bellew said that Aminuddin Zakaria, who succeeded Izham as CEO of MASwings, possessed over 27 years of professional experience in the engineering field.

“I am confident that he will develop a comprehensive and sustainable plan to improve MASwings’ operations, financial performance and customer service experience.

“The group remains committed towards advancing this community airline serving rural air services in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

MASwings serves a network of 24 destinations and operates 10 64-seater ATR 72-500, an advanced turboprop aircraft which connects Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, and Miri International Airports to major towns and cities in East Malaysia, the English daily said.