Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) trade union boss, Alias Aziz, says various carriers around the region have expressed a keen interest in snapping up Malaysia Airlines employees, 6'000 of whom will be laid off as part of majority shareholder Khazanah's turnaround plan.

The secretary general of the Malaysian Airlines Employees Union (MASEU) told the Malay Mail that AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) was not alone in its offer to take on the employees.

“Aside from AirAsia, there are a lot of other airlines that want workers from MAS, this includes everyone from engineers, pilots, mechanics to crew. They know that MAS has quality,” he said.

Aziz said MASEU would seek the same terms as those during the last round of voluntary retirements in 2006. He added that Khazanah had not yet specified which sectors of Malaysia Airlines would be most affected by the downsizing move.

In August, Khazanah stated that it would establish a new national carrier dubbed "NewCo" whose streamlined workforce would be sourced from that of Malaysia Airlines.