Prior to joining MAS, Mr Mueller was CEO of Aer Lingus Plc, the national airline of Ireland. At Aer Lingus, Mr Mueller managed to turnaround the loss-making airline within a year, in a declining Irish market and tepid European market conditions. Aer Lingus’ sustainable profitability and cash generation was built on a new strategy and business model that enabled the 78-year-old carrier to compete in a difficult market environment with both traditional legacy airlines and low-cost carriers. Under his watch, Dublin grew to become one of the leading hubs for North Atlantic long-haul traffic, whilst Aer Lingus ventured into new markets and business models, and successfully repositioned itself from a primarily business-to-business model to a business-to-consumer model with a 90% online distribution.
Mr Mueller’s track record of corporate turnarounds began from his time at Lufthansa, where he was Senior Vice President for network management and corporate planning during the airline’s major turnaround between 1994-1999.