Captain Izham Ismail started flying for Malaysia Airlines in 1979 and became its CEO in 2017. Yet despite coming from such a modest background, Ismail went on to become a pilot and then run Malaysia Airlines, one of the world's oldest carriers. Ismail started flying for Malaysia Airlines in 1979, became a captain and a decade later was selected for its senior management training scheme. After running one of its regional carriers and becoming group chief operating officer, Ismail was elevated to CEO of Malaysia Airlines in 2017. Malaysia Airlines has 11,000 staff, down from 35,000 two decades ago, and flies to almost 50 destinations, mostly in Asia, with 106 aircraft that are all leased.

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Persons: Izham Ismail, Ismail, it's, —, Captain Izham Ismail, –, Mohd Rasfan, Khazanah, Christopher Mueller, He'd, Sabena, Mat Zain Organizations: Malaysia Airlines, Service, Bournemouth University, Philippine Airlines, MIT, Stanford, Boeing, Netflix, Aer Lingus, Germany's Lufthansa, Malaysian, British Airways, American Airlines . Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates Locations: Malaysia, England, Malaysia's, Istanbul, London, Court, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Ukraine, Russian, Malaysian, Asia