Will Be De-Listed From Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange

Troubled Malaysia Airline will make extensive route cuts and eliminate some 6,000 jobs in a major restructuring announced Friday by its majority shareholder.

USA Today reports that the employee reduction accounts for about 30 percent of the airline's total workforce. It also plans to focus on regional routes rather than the unprofitable long-haul international routes, according to Khazana Nasional, the Malaysian government's sovereign wealth fund.

The program was already under discussion before the airline suffered the loss of two of its Boeing 777 airplanes this year.

The airline will be nationalized and de-listed from the Kualua Lumur stock exchange by the end of the year. Khazanah reportedly plans to return a profitable airline to the exchange by 2017.

In a news release, Tan Sri Azman Hj. Mokhtar, Managing Director of Khazanah, said, “The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived. While funds have been made available, they come with strict conditions, so as to ensure that MAS truly resets its business model and cost structures, in order to be truly sustainable. Success is by no means guaranteed – while it is imperative that MAS as a critical enabler in national development is revived, public accountability for the use of the funds mean that it cannot be renewed at any cost. The plan also calls for all parties to close ranks and work together to enable the permanent reconstruction of our national icon.”

(Image from file)

FMI: www.khazanah.com