Malaysia Airlines to cut staff and routes
"The combination of measures will enable our national airline to be revived," said Azman Mokhtar, Head of state investment fund Khazanah Nasional, which has taken over the struggling company.
Azman said the restructuring plans - which will cost 6bn ringgit ($1.9bn) - would result in the airline's nearly 20,000 employees being reduced to 14,000 to put it on a "right footing in terms of staff size".
He said the airline would carry out a "route rationalisation" -- a term Malaysia Airlines has used previously for cutting unprofitable routes -- and will seek to appoint a new CEO by the end of this year.
He added that "a sell-down, or partial sell-down, of Khazanah's stake to appropriate strategic buyers from the private sector will be considered" in the future.
Khazanah Nasional, which already owns 70% of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), announced plans in early August to acquire all remaining shares and de-list the company as it works to revive it.
MAS has struggled for years to meet the challenge of rising industry competition.
Last week it posted its sixth straight quarterly loss for April to June period and forecast more losses for the rest of the year, saying the MH370 and MH17 air disasters and associated stigma have compounded its financial troubles by ravaging bookings.
MH370 went missing on 8 March after inexplicably diverting from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing course.
The Malaysian government says it is believed to have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean, but no trace has been found and it remains a mystery what caused the flight to go missing.
MH17 went down on 18 July over a region of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels. Western leaders say it was shot down by the separatists but investigators have not been able to ascertain who was responsible.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
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