KUALA LUMPUR • Merging money-losing state carrier Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) with budget airline AirAsia Group Berhad is one of the options to "save" them as the Covid-19 crisis batters the aviation industry, Malaysia's second-most senior minister said yesterday.
The pandemic that has killed at least 146,000 people around the world has led to lockdowns in many countries, brought air travel to a virtual halt and left airlines battling for survival.
Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry and the government's designated second-in-command, said deliberations would soon take place on various options to help out the country's airline industry.
He said a possible merger between MAB and AirAsia, a private airline based in Malaysia and operating in multiple countries, was already being considered last year.
"That discussion took place last year, even before this pandemic came. But we need to continue the discussion," he said in an interview.
"We need to see how best we can save those airlines, and it's not going to be a very simple answer. Things are very bad, the aircraft are not flying. We need to sit down and discuss how to address these issues," he added.
Neither airline responded to a request for comment.
Datuk Seri Azmin said that even before the pandemic crisis it was "no plain sailing" for the airline industry. Since last year, Malaysia has been looking for a strategic partner for MAB. "We were also looking at some of the proposals coming from international players," he said.
"Now the situation is becoming more complex because of this pandemic. We are looking at all options."
He did not say where the proposals had come from.
The Malaysian government has been seeking a strategic partner for its national airline, which struggled to recover from two tragedies in 2014 - the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 and the shooting down of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
Sources have said AirAsia and Japan Airlines had earlier shown interest in buying a stake in MAB.
Separately, privately held Malaysian group Golden Skies Ventures said this month that it had made a US$2.5 billion (S$3.6 billion) offer to fully take over the holding company of MAB.
AirAsia said last week that it had no incoming revenue and 96 per cent of its fleet was grounded, having suspended most of its flights since March, and its long-haul arm, AirAsia X Berhad, had also parked most of its aircraft at its Kuala Lumpur hub.
Yesterday, the airline said it planned to resume domestic flights starting with Malaysia on April 29, Thailand and the Philippines on May 1, India on May 4 and Indonesia on May 7.
Some of those would be subject to governmental approval.
Malaysia is in the middle of a March 18 to April 28 partial lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
It has so far reported more than 5,000 cases of Covid-19 infection, out of which 86 people have died.
REUTERS
