No new MAS CEO, Khazanah to invest RM6 billion

MAS is also expected to reduce its work force by 6,000

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: It’s status quo at MAS. The much anticipated board changes have been put on hold. Chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and his board will stay on for the time being.

Despite MAS running at a loss, majority investor Khazanah Nasional has promised to invest a staggering RM6 billion to save the ailing company.

Khazanah managing director Azman Mokhtar said at a press conference today that the search for a new CEO had started and he would be a local candidate.

MAS would cut 30 per cent of its workforce as part of a restructuring that will cost RM6 billion ringgit, he said.

The national carrier will trim its staff by 6,000 to 14,000 as it seeks to stem long-running losses worsened by two aircraft disasters this year.

Azman said the airline would be de-listed from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange by the end of 2014, adding that Ahmad Jauhari would stay on as chief executive until July 2015.

Khazanah aims to return the airline to profitability within three years of its de-listing, and plans to re-list it later.

“The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived,” Azman said.

The airline will be taken completely under the wings of the government. Khazanah previously announced that it planned to take 100 per cent ownership.

Yesterday, MAS said its second-quarter net loss widened to RM307 million from RM176 million a year earlier, though the result was an improvement from the net loss of RM443 million in the first quarter.