Aviation News (V): New Malév CEO in Daring Media Stunt

As the old saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me." Which means we have no idea what to make of this week's promises by János Gönci (left), who took office in February as CEO of Malév Rt, Hungary's chronically loss-making national airline. In an interview with Index.hu , Gönci said that he believes Malév can start turning a profit by the year after next, even though it has wracked up losses totaling Ft 38 billion (€153 million) over the past five years - and even though the numerous men who have preceded him over the same period have issued numerous such promises, all of which have turned out to be as faithful as the timetable of the average African airline.

Even taking into account the fact that his official bio lists his favorite hobby as "stunt flying", Gönci would appear to be either daring, foolhardy, or both. In addition to his eye-rolling promise of future profits, he confessed that he couldn't understand why investors keep "pumping money" into loss-making discount airlines. (Hint: because they lose less than Malév, and may actually offer the genuine prospect of profitability sometime down the road, rather than being a bottomless pit of government patronage.) He also said he doesn't want to sell Malév for another year, which strikes us as pretty damn cheeky, as everyone knows that no one wants to buy it.