Malaysia Airlines seeks aid from shareholder as creditor talks continue - Report

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Berhad has sought financial aid from its sole shareholder and sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional as debt restructuring talks with creditors drag on, The Edge weekly reported on Saturday, citing the airline.

The national airline did not disclose to the weekly how much cash it was seeking, but the report cited other sources saying it could be as much as $500 million.

Malaysia Airlines and Khazanah did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Malaysia Airlines is seeking to restructure after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to slash operations.

Reuters reported last month that the parent of Malaysia Airlines had warned leasing companies that Khazanah would stop funding the group and force it into a winding down process if restructuring talks with lessors were unsuccessful.

The carrier had restructured after two deadly crashes in 2014 with Khazanah pumping in 6 billion ringgit ($1.47 billion).

But this time the government has said it will not bail out the struggling company.

Last month, Chief Executive Izham Ismail said in a staff memo that the restructuring talks were taking longer than planned.

Malaysia Airlines told The Edge that the talks were in final stages and that it was targeting to reach commercial agreement in early December.