CEO Insights Magazine

The aviation industry has faced several global challenges including a pandemic, followed by the impact of broader impacts from wars, geopolitical issues, and inflation recently. This has led to a shift in market dynamics, with a focus on efficiencies technological advancement, and much more. Amid the upheaval and ever-changing landscape, the industry continues to evolve, thrive, and grow. All these factors make it necessary for the industry to have formidable leaders who can chart the course for airlines toward sustainability, excellence, and customer satisfaction. With over a decade of experience in the aviation industry, Tanes Kumar is one such leader.

Tanes’ journey in the aviation industry began in 2012 with AIRASIA's Next Generation Leader (NGL) program. Since then, Tanes has only seen tremendous growth in his professional journey within the industry. Currently working as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Myanmar Airways International (MAI) and Mingalar, alongside his role as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Tanes is striving to drive leverage on combined mergers to facilitate growth at the airlines. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently the political unrest in Myanmar, Tanes was able to lead the airlines through significant turnaround and growth.

In an insightful conversation with the CEO Insights Asia magazine, Tanes shares his strategies, leadership guidelines, and future roadmap for MAI and Mingalar. Let’s delve into it.

How would you define MAI and Mingalar as an organization and its current position in the market?

MAI and Mingalar are well-established airlines with rich histories in the Myanmar aviation industry and the country in general. MAI started in 1993, has thrived in the industry for more than three decades, and Mingalar, formerly known as Air KBZ, has undergone a recent rebranding. Besides being an IATA member, MAI is an IOSA-certified airline that ensures that our safety and security standards are uncompromisable and of international standards.

With a fleet of 14 aircraft, our carriers serve 17 domestic destinations in Myanmar and 17 international destinations across Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, UAE, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, and Russia. We experienced tremendous growth post-pandemic with a rapid expansion of our network which has bolstered our position as the market leader in the country, commanding more than half of the market share in Myanmar, both domestically and internationally. We attribute our current success to our strong focus on expanding our network to provide the best connectivity possible to air travelers to & from Myanmar, with our enhanced codeshare & interline partnerships which currently stand at 41 partners with another 8 in the pipeline.

Besides our core business, we also have been diversifying our end-to-end product offerings, investing in technology, and focusing on our people & culture.

What are some of the strategic plans that you have adopted to optimize operations and engage new audiences in the market?

From an operational perspective, efficiency has been the key theme in our operational evaluation. Hence, substantial solutions have been implemented in various areas, including investing in ground equipment, streamlining catering operations, implementation of crewing, and more. Moving forward, digital transformation, infrastructural investments, improving financial health, and closure of integration of the airlines will be the core focus areas. We have already started the implementation with the human resources system rollout, strengthening the Operational Control Center (OCC) setup, and more.

We have fundamentally ensured that we appeal to as many travel segments as possible to ensure we reach the masses through various initiatives, including many of which are first-of-its-kind in Myanmar. MAI is the only carrier that offers dedicated check-in facilities for business class passengers in the lounge area. We also focus on the entire travel ecosystem with our Sky Smile Loyalty & Sky Deals Partnership programs, which bring together more than 80 partners, including hotels, food & beverage outlets, and lifestyle brands. In a nutshell, we bring exceptional benefits to modern travelers seeking comprehensive offers. Plus, to spur leisure travel and to ensure a one-stop service experience, we have introduced co-branded products with our strategic partners from Myanmar, namely, our MAI-uab Visa Card, MAI Xtra mobile application, and MAI x ATOM Tourist SIM, which are readily available on board, various sales channels or online downloads (for the application).

Tell us about your leadership approach. What are the methodologies that you follow as a leader?

I see myself as a blend of various leadership methodologies as I have been fortunate enough to learn under the guidance of leaders with multi-faceted approaches. I strive to be a transformational leader and a pacesetter, adapting to our dynamic workforce to accomplish the mission ahead. It has a cross-cultural tone when it comes to dealing with international partners and is more of a transformational or directive style when it comes to internal stakeholders, especially if a decision needs to be made.

I strongly believe leaders should have a vision and sheer passion to galvanize the individuals & teams in the organization to work towards the same goal. Regardless of the leadership style, leaders must promote effective collaboration, build mutual respect, act with empathy, and make decisions with a decisive approach.

How do you keep yourself up to date with ongoing industry trends to steer your organization towards the future?

As it has become crucial to understand the shifts in passenger demands and travel trends, we do our best to monitor passengers’ feedback by staying close to the ground. It is extremely important to put ourselves in the shoes of our passengers as we are also travelers. By doing so, we identify what are important factors that enhance our passengers’ travel experience with our airlines. This helps us to identify the areas for improvement, be it from pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight phases of their journey. One notable aspect is how we have collaborated with renowned partners to enhance our services and exclusive offers to our passengers.

On a broader level, we closely watch the general consumer trends and observe the initiatives our peers are embarking on to understand what consumers are expecting based on the overall trends and expected shifts. We also take cues from industry stakeholders: IATA, and local regulators, actively participate in industrial events, refer to industrial publications, and collaborate closely with our partners to ensure we are abreast with the trends, including regulatory changes or other pressures such as supply chain constraints and geopolitical impact to ensure we are in a better position to face them.

What is the future destination you are heading towards?

We expect a busy second half of 2024, with a further three destinations across the region and fleet additions if the right equipment comes along. We have finalized our expansion with four new destinations, with Chiang Mai, Thailand launched in early Apr 2024. Next, we will launch flights to Vientiane, Laos on 25 June 2024, followed by Doha, Qatar on 30 July 2024. We are also finalizing regulatory approvals for Dhaka, Bangladesh. In Myanmar, we will serve Naypyidaw and Homalin effective June 2024. We aim to serve 40 destinations across our network both domestically and internally by the end of 2024.

From a longer-term view, subject to the market conditions, we will continue to ensure we keep building on our existing building blocks to fully capitalize on the normalization of the economic & political situation. We aspire to have a fleet size of 25 aircraft in the next 3-4 years as a market as Myanmar deserves to have such a player as aviation is vital to the country from every aspect.

Tanes Kumar, CEO & CCO, Myanmar Airways International (MAI) & Mingalar

Tanes Kumar has a background in business and multimedia technology. He started his professional journey in the IT industry as an SAP consultant where he won two Spotlight awards at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Transitioning to aviation, he joined the AIRASIA Next Generation Leader (NGL) program and started as a Network Planner at AIRASIA X, subsequently as a Business Development Analyst at AIRASIA ASEAN. He has also held crucial roles at Malindo Air, a subsidiary of Lion Group Air.

Quick Facts:

• Favorite Hobbies: Traveling, collectible aircraft models, everything to do with aviation

• Favorite Cuisine: Penang cuisine - nasi kandar, char koay teow

• Favorite Book: The Bible – a complete book with plenty of leadership case studies

• Favorite Travel Destination: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil