Malaysia Airlines has appointed Captain Izham Ismail as the CEO of its sister airline, MASwings, effective July 1.

He takes over from the current CEO, Captain Ritzerwan Rashid, who will retire at end-August.

Izham will focus on developing a comprehensive and sustainable plan to improve MASwings' operations, financial performance and customer service experience," Malaysia Airlines' CEO, Christoph Mueller said in a statement today.

Izham has close to 36 years of experience in the aviation industry and thus, combines a valuable breadth of understanding in airline operations and business management.

"I am proud that he is our own internal home grown talent and confident that he will be able to lead MASwings to new levels of excellence," Mueller said.

Izham is currently Head of the Operations Programme Management Office overseeing more than 100 projects, key to the turnaround of Malaysia Airlines.

He is also a Board of Director for various companies such as MAB Kargo and began his career with Malaysia Airlines as a trained pilot from the Philippines Airline Aviation School.

As a pilot he achieved world aviation records when he flew Malaysia Airlines’ first B777-200 eastward from Seattle to Kuala Lumpur and back, setting a new world longest flight and speed record for the fastest round-the-world flight by a commercial airliner with total flight time of 41 hours 59 minutes over a distance of 23, 310 miles.

Mueller also thanked Ritzerwan for his contributions to MASwings as well as Malaysia Airlines.

Under his tenure, the airline significantly expanded to become a recognised and designated "The East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) airline".