Malaysia Airlines inks A350, A330neo lease deal with ALC

The Malaysian Government has been approached by investors interested in acquiring struggling flag carrier Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l), Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said.

"There are certain parties who are interested to buy, so we don't reject [the possibility of selling]. I love MAS. I want MAS to be a national airline, but it looks like we cannot afford it," Reuters quoted Mahathir as saying.

The PM said earlier in March that the government was evaluating options for the carrier, including selling it to an investor, refinancing it, or even shutting it down.

Malaysia Airlines has been fully owned by Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional since 2014, after the loss of two B777-200(ER)s had dragged the already struggling carrier into a deeper crisis.

Mahathir did not disclose the names of the potential investors, saying only that they were both local and foreign.

Malaysia Airlines continues to post losses after missing the target to return to profitability in 2018. Khazanah Nasional's managing director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said that the...

The Malaysian government is evaluating various options regarding the future of the flag carrier Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l), including the potential shut-down of the loss-making airline, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told the media.

"It is a very serious matter to shut down the airline. We will nevertheless be studying and investigating as to whether we should shut it down or we should sell it off or we should refinance it. All these things are open for the government to decide," Mahathir said, as relayed by Reuters.

The decision on the future of the airline will be taken "soon", the PM added.

Malaysia Airlines has been privately owned by the country's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad since 2014. The fund took full ownership of the airline in the wake of a crisis caused by the loss of two B777-200(ER)s, where one unit disappeared over the Indian Ocean and one was shot down over Eastern Ukraine.

The carrier lost MYR812 million ringgits (USD198.5 million) in 2017. The results for 2018 are not...

Civil aviation authorities and airlines across the globe have begun to curtail B737 MAX operations following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines B737 MAX 8, ET-AVJ (msn 62450), on Sunday, March 10. The four-month old jet was climbing out of Addis Ababa en route for Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta when it lost height and impacted the ground killing all 149 passengers and 9 crew onboard. The disaster comes barely four months after the crash of a Lion Air B737 MAX 8 in Indonesia which killed all 189 onboard.

As of Monday, March 11, Ethiopian Airlines has said that while the cause of the crash is still unknown, it has grounded its fleet of four remaining B737 MAX 8s "as an extra safety precaution".

For its part, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has ordered all local operators to ground their B737 MAX 8s.

"In line with the management principle of zero tolerance for safety hazards and strict control of safety risks, in order to ensure the safety of civil aviation in China, at...

Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare Int'l) has confirmed severe operational disruptions given its entire network is being serviced by only a single aircraft - B767-200(ER) Z-WPF (msn 24867).

Air Zimbabwe's other B767-200(ER) is currently undergoing a C-check while its A320-200s and two B737-200Adv.s are all stored at Harare Int'l.

The state-owned carrier said in a statement it would shortly take delivery of "additional equipment" to solve its constraints which has seen multiple flights cancelled and hundreds of passengers stranded.

Air Zimbabwe has previously confirmed to ch-aviation it would add two B777-200(ER)s - Z-RGM (msn 28421) and Z-NBE (msn 28422) - to its fleet in March. The two ex-Malaysia Airlines jets, which were destined for the still-born Zimbabwe Airways, are to be proffered to the dry-lease market.

In addition, Air Zimbabwe has also been linked to the acquisition of four E145s which would be used to resume thinner domestic and regional routes while launching new ones.

In an effort to help revive the airline, Zimbabwean Minister of...