Malaysia Airlines majority shareholder, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has rejected rumours that the national carrier is to be merged with rival AirAsia X as part of MAS's major restructuring plans.
Khazanah stated that "as we have stated previously, a comprehensive review of all restructuring options is being undertaken and evaluated. 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 in August 2011, but terminated it after eight months following strong resistance from the MAS 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 disasters and their impact on the carrier's already weak finances.
Malaysian media has speculated that the government will allow the airline to go bankrupt, as that would then facilitate the complete rebuilding of the company from the ground up.
Among other claims reported by local media are a renaming of the airline akin to that of Korean Air which, until the KE007 disaster in 1983, was known as Korean Air Lines.