15/07/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JULY 15, 2026

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AirAsia executive named ICAO global ambassador

talent development. She joins a distinguished cohort of aviation professionals selected to support ICAO’s Strategic Plan 2026-2050. Yap said: “I am honoured to be designated an ICAO Global Ambassador and grateful to the Transport Ministry for the nomination. This role underscores the importance of collaboration in shaping a more sustainable and inclusive future for aviation. “Our region is home to extraordinary talent and immense untapped potential. As aviation continues to evolve, we must open more doors for young people to build meaningful careers. Having navigated my own path in what was once a predominantly male industry, I want to show the next generation, especially young women, that they not only belong in aviation but can lead and make a real impact. I look forward to connecting with young people across the region and inspiring them to pursue the opportunities that this industry has to offer.” The designation reinforces AirAsia’s long standing focus on talent development and diversity – an area where the airline has built a tangible track record. Since welcoming its first female pilot in 2002, women pilots today make up 8.3% of AirAsia’s flight crew, above the global industry average of 5-6%. As a digital-forward company, women also represent 29% of its ICT team. These numbers reflect AirAsia’s track record in creating pathways for local and female talent to thrive in technical roles while fostering a more collaborative and dynamic culture. Yap’s career reflects this

SEPANG: AirAsia announced the desig nation of its chief sustainability officer Yap Mun Ching ( pix ) as an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ambassador under the United Nations aviation agency’s newly launched Global Ambassadors Programme. The ICAO Global Ambassadors Programme (IGAP) was launched in March 2026 as a new initiative to attract skilled, competent and diverse talent to support the aviation industry’s long-term growth. Under ICAO’s 2026-2050 Strategic Plan, air traffic is projected to reach 12.4 billion passengers annually by 2050 – nearly tripling from 4.6 billion in 2024 – creating significant demand for a pipeline of competent pro fessionals, from pilots and engineers to air traffic controllers and maintenance technicians. The Asia Pacific region is expected to lead this growth, accounting for 35% of global traffic today and potentially 50% by 2050. The IGAP enlists aviation leaders to champion advocacy and outreach efforts, particularly among youth and women, to explore careers in aviation and help build the next-generation workforce. The two-year designation o Chief sustainability officer Yap Mun Ching will champion youth, women and future aviation talent in her new global role

path. Since joining AirAsia as route planner, she has held leadership roles in fleet planning, airline strategy and corporate foundation develop ment. She now leads AirAsia’s environmental strategy, steering sustainability action across seven airlines in five countries.

from July 1, 2026 to July 1, 2028 follows a nomination by Transport Ministry, in recognition of Yap’s ex pertise in aviation sus tainability and her work in advancing the sector’s

PPI down 2% in 2025 on softer mining, manufacturing

PETALING JAYA: The Producer Price Index (PPI) local production declined by 2% in 2025, compared to an increase of 0.3% in 2024. The annual decline was mainly attributed to contractions in mining (-8.2%) and manufacturing (-2.1%) sectors. Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry and fishing increased by 3.2% ,while water supply and electricity and gas supply sectors recorded increases of 4.7% and 1.9%, respectively. The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector recorded a 3.2% increase in 2025, following an increase of 7.9% in 2024. This was primarily due to the growing of perennial crops index, which increased by 5.3% (2024:14.1%), largely due to the oil palm fresh fruit bunches index (5.4%). The remaining subsectors recorded increases in 2025 were growing of non perennial crops (2%), fishing (1.6%), aquaculture (0.2%) and animal production (0.1%). In contrast, logging index declined by 6.9%. The mining sector recorded a decline of 8.2% in 2025, following a 2% decrease in the previous year. The extraction of crude petroleum index fell by 8.6% (2024:-2.8%). Besides, the extraction of natural gas index recorded a decrease of 6.9% (2024: -0.2%). Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector continued to record a decline of 2.1% in 2025, after a 0.3% decrease in the previous year. The

decline was due to a significant drop in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products index (-12.8%). The manufacture of chemicals and chemical products and manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products index also posted a decline of 5% and 4.4% , respectively. However, these declines were partially offset by the increase in the manufacture of food products by 5.8%. All stages of processing recorded decreases in 2025. The crude materials for further processing index decreased by 3.7% (2024: 0.7%). Meanwhile, the intermediate materials, supplies and components index declined by 1.8% (2024: -0.5%) and the finished goods index decreased by 1.2% in 2025 (2024: 1.9%). Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) leveraged 116.9 points in 2025, an increase of 0.9% ,compared to 0.7% in 2024. The increase was primarily driven by accommodation and food & beverage service activities (3.4%), arts, entertainment & recreation index (1.8%) and education (1.3%) indices. Other subsectors that recorded increases were health (0.7%), professional (0.6%) and real estate activities (0.2%) indices. In contrast, the transportation index declined by 0.4% ,followed by the information & communication index, which recorded a slight decrease of 0.1%.

Xsolla, Management and Science University in pact to develop game talent

KUALA LUMPUR: Xsolla, a global video game commerce company, yesterday signed an MoU with Management and Science University (MSU), to strengthen collaboration between academia and the video games industry while providing students with access to professional publishing, monetisation, and distribution technologies. The partnership is designed to support knowledge exchange and talent development across game development, digital commerce, and game monetisation. Through industry talks, guest lectures, best practice sharing sessions, and collaborative educational initiatives, Xsolla and MSU will work together to provide students and faculty with direct exposure to current industry practices and commercial opportunities in the global games market. As part of the collaboration, Xsolla will facilitate access to its end-to-end game commerce ecosystem across its payments, monetisation and distribution platforms. Students will be able to integrate professional

grade publishing, monetisation, payment, and distribution capabilities into their projects, helping bridge the gap between academic learning and commercial game development. “Today’s game developers need more than technical skills; they need to understand the complete business of bringing games to market,” said Xsolla president Chris Hewish. “Our partnership with MSU gives students access to the technologies, workflows, and commercial infrastructure used throughout the industry, helping prepare the next generation of developers to successfully launch and grow their games on a global scale.” Through strategic industry partnerships and experiential learning programmes, the university continues to connect studios with real-world opportunities across information sciences, engineering, technology, and related disciplines. Both organisations will continue exploring opportunities to support talent, innovation and growth in Malaysia’s interactive entertainment ecosystem.