‘Bizarre’ plan to take over Malaysia Airlines shot down, say sources

Talk that Putrajaya has shot down a high-profile conglomerate’s attempt at taking over troubled Malaysia Airlines, owned by the govt’s Khazanah Nasional, has been dominating informal chats and conversations among industry leaders since last week. The merger proposal was submitted 2 months after Khazanah announced in October this year that its corporate restructuring plan for the airline had failed, an issue it blamed on an overabundance of players in the domestic travel market. Since taking over, Khazanah has implemented controversial shake-ups that saw thousands of people losing their jobs and the resignations of 2 foreign CEs. Sources have described as a “highly questionable” proposal put forth to Khazanah, to merge Malaysia Airlines with another airline, adding that it was wrong on many counts. <br/>