{"id":145542,"date":"2020-11-30T11:24:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T11:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=145542"},"modified":"2020-11-30T16:01:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T16:01:09","slug":"clipped-wings-not-an-obstacle-for-former-captain-to-move-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=145542","title":{"rendered":"Clipped-wings not an obstacle for former captain to move forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Iylia Marsya Iskandar<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine waking up with uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You get out of bed to find a heap of clothes in front of you and you thought to yourself this is not as bad, the heaps of debt that you have is way worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You turned to the right to realise that you forgot to close your windows and your favourite scarf were almost blown away by the wind but that is still fine, at least your favourite job is still intact though you are barely grasping it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you go about your day on a bicycle, anxiously not knowing what tomorrow holds, will you be able to pay your debts or will you get blacklisted? Will you be able to keep your job tomorrow? Will you still be healthy tomorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, this pandemic is a\ntime of uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past two decades,\ncommercial pilot Captain Azrin Mohamad Zawawi puts on his white uniform and\nblack captain hat before heading to work soaring high in the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azrin is a veteran of 20 years capping over more than 13,000 flying hours with three airlines and the latest being with Malindo Air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the pandemic has set\nforth an unpredicted twist of events by keeping him bound to the ground as the\ncaptain was among the 2,200 crew and staff of Malindo Air who received\nretrenchment letters at the end of last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With worldwide border restrictions to curb the pandemic followed by serious economic recession, the aviation sector was forced to slash down its workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Azrin, however, was not disheartened with his wings being clipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the former captain decided to put on his white uniform and black captain hat once again, pacing on the ground with starting a food business, selling Malaysian dishes such as a hereditary recipe of curry noodle dish, laksa<\/em>, mee hoon soup and rojak.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaming up with his wife Latun Noralyani Meor Aminudin and mother-in-law Rohime Abdul Rahman at the BoomTown Cafe at USJ11, Subang Jaya, Azrin decided to remain true to his identity and named his stall \u0153Kapten Corner.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His business received a surge\nof unexpected publicity when a photograph of Azrin wearing his captain’s\nuniform with a red apron while serving dishes on social media went viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father, Mr. Zawawi is supportive of the former captains venture and encouraged family and friends to visit his stall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On his Facebook account, Zawawi said: \u0153Azrin doesn’t know when he will be donning the uniform again as a pilot as nobody knows the future of the aviation industry. To all friends, please visit his stall for a sumptuous meal.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first few days of\nbusiness, Azrin said, \u0153I never imagined grossing up to RM1,500 daily in the\nfirst few days, my petty hawker business has boomed to rake in more than double\nthe amount now.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His food stall business is\nmore than just the talk of town, Azrin also received a surge of loyal customers\nand demand over his tasty hereditary dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153There is an overwhelming\ndemand for our signature dishes. In fact, we had to turn down offers from food\ndelivery companies to have their motorcycle riders pick up orders as we cannot\neven manage to cater for our daily steady stream of walk-in customers, who make\na beeline as soon as we open at 2.00 pm.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azrins decision puts his\ncustomers best interest at heart as the majority are frequent customers and he\ndoes not want to disappoint by not serving them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Everything is sold out\nwithin four hours and we have to turn down customers,\u009d said Azrin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His daily routine starts at 8.00 a.m, where the family prepares and cooks at home before taking the journey to the stall, about ten minutes away at around lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon closing up by 6.00 p.m, Azrin headed on to Seri Kembangan with his wife to purchase daily supplies, and they would go home and prepare for the upcoming day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kelantan born former-captains venture in the aviation industry departed in 1994 after he secured a 30-year MARA loan to pursue cadet pilot training at the Mofaz Flying Academy in Langkawi which amounted to RM113,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153I am still servicing my loan\nwith monthly payments of about RM600. There is an outstanding loan amount of\nsome RM17,000,\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azrin has manned the sky since 2000 by being a co-pilot with the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and proceeded to being a pilot of Firefly in 2012 and in the same year joined Lion Air, the latest one being with Malindo Air for the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To add salt to the wound\nafter the retrenchment, there were criticisms by people in the aviation\nindustry on him degrading the pilot’s uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on this, Azrin\nexplained that it was never his intention to don the captain’s attire to man\nthe stall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u0153When my wife opened\nthe stall on the first day, I was out sorting my retrenchment documentation at\nmy airline office and drove straight from the Kuala Lumpur International\nAirport (KLIA) in Sepang to meet her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I arrived at the stall\nin uniform, I told her that it will probably be the last time I will wear it.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day, there were many\ncurious onlookers and patrons took the opportunity to take photographs of the\ncaptain and it quickly went viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining further, he said,\n\u0153I only realised its impact the following day and called my previous employer\nto explain the situation that I had no intention to mar the airline or\nprofession’s image.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153From then on, the uniform\nhad become a brand for our business stall. I plan to design a similar uniform\nfor my entire stall crew and those involved, to keep the business attractive,\u009d\nsaid Azrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 44, he believes he has\nmuch more to contribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a doubt, Azrin said he will return to the aviation industry when the pandemic settles down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is adamant on keeping his\noptions open on being an entrepreneur and a pilot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that ever since he\nlost his job, he was bent on flying forward like an aircraft and embracing the\nchallenge while creating a rewarding lifestyle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Likewise, I want to extend whatsoever assistance to my fellow cockpit and cabin crew members so that they, too, can continue to survive independently by thriving on their own with alternate jobs, no matter how small or big it is,\u009d said Azrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a man full of dedication and inspiration, Azrin dreamt of establishing an airline village of food and beverage run entirely by retrenched aircrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that his priority\nwas to purchase a small piece of land to kick-start his airline village dream\nwith a central kitchen concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153For starters, several\nofficials of a state government agency, Yayasan Hijrah Selangor, approached me\nto gather 15 former commercial pilots and 15 former flight attendants who had\nrecently lost their jobs, to discuss plans on a project for a business startup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are convinced of such an\nidea after observing my progress and the enormous news publicity gained thus\nfar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should the plan succeed, they\nwant me to spearhead the project and invite other pilots and flight attendants\nwho had lost their jobs to participate,\u009d Azrin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also received an abundance\nof calls and visits by entrepreneurs, investors and politicians keen to invest\non his brilliant branding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on economies\naround the world, unemployment and retrenchments continue to rise in the second\nquarter of this year, especially in sectors hard-hit by the pandemic, such as\naviation, hospitality and food and beverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this unprecedented time,\neven though you will wake up with frequent uncertainty, if opportunity does not\nknock on your doorstep, build a door to certainty and that is where you will\nfind victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Azrin might have lost his job but his dedication and responsibility has strengthened his wings to go against the wings of change.***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This feature story is written as part of an individual assignment for Feature Writing class)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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