Malaysia Airlines’ future still up in the air

PUTRAJAYA — Putrajaya is still mulling the future of Malaysia Airlines, said Malaysia's Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

He said the government has yet to decide what to do with the financially troubled national carrier.

“On MAS… no,” was his terse reply when asked for the decision on the airline, which he referred by its former acronym.

Mr Azmin, who is on the board of directors of Khazanah Nasional, which owns Malaysia Airlines, was speaking at Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Raya open house on Wednesday (June 5).

Mr Azmin had said in March that the government did not have the means to bail out the loss-making airline and would have to consider various other options.

Debate has raged over whether the government should pump more money into the airline or sell it

Dr Mahathir said last month that selling the airline was an option.

“Everyone tells me we should do it this way or that way, but we have not received any viable solution,” he said, adding that Mr Khazanah had already poured RM6 billion (S$1.97 billion) into the airline.

The fund injection in 2014 came with a 12-point plan to turn the carrier around.

However, Malaysia Airlines failed to meet the plan’s ultimate goal, which was to be back in the black by the end of 2017.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Izham Ismail said earlier this week that it would be a wrong move to shutter the airline.

He hoped to see investors help turn around the national carrier.

Malaysia Airlines might not be profitable but the organisations, stakeholders, companies that provide services to it are, he said.

In addition to the 13,500 Malaysia Airlines employees, Mr Izham said up to 400,000 people would be affected if the airline were to shut down.