Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) majority shareholder, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has rejected as "unfounded and speculative" rumours that the national carrier is to be merged with rival AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) as part of a restructuring drive.
"As we have stated previously, a comprehensive review of all restructuring options is being undertaken and evaluated," it said. "The resolution of this review will be made after due consideration, and after respective approvals from the relevant parties and authorities, including the approval of the special shareholder, the Ministry of Finance. The outcome will be announced in due course, within the time frame indicated previously."
Malaysia Airlines had entered into a share swap agreement with AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) in August 2011 but terminated it after eight months following strong resistance from the Malaysia Airline System Employees Union (MASEU).
Khazanah has been forced to consider its options concerning the future of Malaysia Airlines in the wake of the recent MH370 and MH17 tragedies and their impact on the carrier's already weak finances.
Airline commercial director, Hugh Dunleavy, recently told the Sunday Telegraph that work on a strategic review had already begun with all options currently on the table. Malaysian media outlets have speculated that Kuala Lumpur will likely allow the airline to go bankrupt as that would then allow for a complete rebuilding of the company from the bottom up.
Among the reported claims are a possible renaming of the airline akin to that of Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) which, until the KE007 disaster in 1983, was known as Korean Air Lines.
