Leong checks out of Firefly, may check in at Khazanah

Fly Firefly Sdn Bhd managing director Eddy Leong confirmed that he had submitted his resignation but did not disclose details.

Read more: Leong checks out of Firefly, may check in at Khazanah http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111122231317/Article/#ixzz1eZvtrDr9

George Town: Fly Firefly Sdn Bhd managing director Eddy Leong has quit from the community carrier owned by Malaysia Airlines (MAS). Business Times has learnt that Leong, 39, had tendered his resignation yesterday and is likely to join Khazanah Nasional Bhd. Leong confirmed that he had submitted his resignation but did not disclose details. "Yes (I have resigned)," Leong said in a one-worded SMS reply yesterday. Sources said he is set to leave Firefly sometime in December. Prior to joining MAS in 2003, Leong was in the audit and business advisory and business and risk consulting units in Arthur Andersen (which merged with Ernst and Young in 2002). He held various key positions within MAS including as project director of MAS Hotels and Boutiques Sdn Bhd and assistant general manager for the national carrier's turnaround management office until 2007 when he was handpicked by then-MAS managing director Datuk Seri Idris Jala to run Firefly. "I chose him because he is a single-minded person and not because he knows everything about running an airline," Idris had said when questioned on his choice of Leong to helm Firefly. "His strength is his focus on a specific project and I am playing up to his strength. "He is very lethal. I don't want an all-round fellow. I wanted someone who will cut down the costs and I have seen him in action when the Four Seasons Hotel was being constructed in Langkawi," said Idris, adding that there were many who questioned his choice. At Firefly, Leong was instrumental in the success of the turbo-propeller operations of the award-winning airline, which raked in profits in less than a year after starting its jet services.