Petaling Jaya, 26 August 2019– Malindo Air has officially announced the appointment of Captain Mushafiz bin Mustafa Bakri as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective 23 September 2019. Captain Mushafiz will take over from current CEO, Chandran Rama Muthy.

Chandran will be elevated to take on a new role in Lion Group as it’s Group Strategic Director. He will be tasked to drive greater synergy within the Lion Group by overseeing new developments and strategic directions for all of the five carriers (AOCs - air operator's certificates) along sides putting in place financial management systems and developing alternative business streams. He will however continue to remain as a shareholder of Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd.

Captain Mushafiz is currently the Director of Safety, Security & Quality (DSSQ) of Thai Lion Air, a low-cost airline within Lion Group based in Don Muang, Thailand. He began his career as a trained pilot from the Australia Aviation School, Adelaide and has operated various types of aircraft including the variants Boeing 737 and Boeing 777. In 2013, Captain Mushafiz started his path with the Lion Group from Malindo Air as one of the pioneer batch of pilots and played a key part as a management pilot in the early days of the airline. Later in the same year, he was seconded to Thai Lion Air, which was also then a start-up airline. He has held various operational roles including as Deputy Flight Operations Director. He brings forth over 24 years of aviation experience both as flying and management pilot as well as Instructor and Examiner.

Malindo Air currently operates over 1,400 flights weekly across a continuously growing network of 57 destinations spread across 16 countries in Asia since March 2013 from its twin hubs in KLIA and Subang. It operates a mixed fleet of 14 ATR72-600 and 29 Boeing 737NG aircraft. Malindo Air employs close to 5,000 employees with a 100% Malaysian crew.

Lion Group consists of 5 AOCs namely Lion Air, Batik Air and Wings Air operating out of Indonesia, Malindo Air and Thai Lion Air which operate out of Malaysia and Thailand respectively and a FAA certified aircraft maintenance (MRO) facility at Batam. The Group’s total fleet size is made up of 316 aircrafts operating 11,100 flights weekly.