Malaysia Airlines restructuring talks prolonged, CEO tells staff

Malaysia Airlines’ parent company is still holding negotiations with lessors and creditors over a restructuring plan to keep the carrier alive, but the talks are taking longer than planned, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters. “The negotiations are still ongoing and taking longer than the planned timeline, but we are gaining encouraging traction from the lessors and creditors thus far,” Izham Ismail, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines and group CEO of parent Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), said in a memo to staff on Friday. MAG said in an email Saturday it is “continuing discussions with creditors on its ongoing restructuring exercise”. MAG, owned by state fund Khazanah, said Izham’s memo to staff was to address concerns among employees. Malaysia’s national airline is seeking to restructure after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to slash operations.<br/>