Malaysia Airlines in crisis

Malaysia Airlines said it expected "challenging" times ahead amid high fuel costs after reporting a loss of US$427 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011, bringing the group's net financial deficit to US$836m for the entire year.

"The results make for unpleasant reading. The company is in crisis," said chairman Mohamad Nor Mohamad Yusof.

MAS group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the airline would respond to stem the losses.

"The bottom-line group losses for 2011 underscore the imperative need for MAS to immediately adopt strong measures to stop the bleeding,' he said

"These include staff redeployment, increasing productivity and efficiency, relentless cost control and making further route reviews.'

MAS' full year results for 2011 come on the back of a 2% rise in group revenue and 1.3 million increase in passenger numbers handled compared to the year before.

Late last year MAS dumped routes servicing various cities in Europe, South Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

It plans to launch a new regional premium airline by the second half of 2012 that would service Southeast Asia and key cities in South Asia and Greater China.

In August, Malaysia Airlines and Kuala Lumpur-based budget carrier AirAsia announced an alliance aimed at eliminating head-to-head competition and allowing each to focus on their core markets.

With permission from Travelmole