Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is set to name the airline alliance it intends to join, as analysts confirm it is considering oneworld as a leading contender. A decision is expected this month.
The South-East Asian carrier has been most closely associated to date with the KLM-Northwest Airlines Wings alliance, having formed codeshare links with both leading Wings carriers over the last two years. However, oneworld partners British Airways and Qantas are known to be wooing MAS to boost an Asian presence which includes Cathay Pacific.
The addition of MAS to oneworld would open the possibility of Qantas moving its South-East Asian hub for flights between Europe and Australia from Singapore's Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It suspended its operations to Malaysia in 1997 as a result of the region's economic collapse.
The alliance move by MAS comes against a background of continuing lacklustre financial performance as the airline failed to meet its targeted return to profit for the financial year ended 31 March, posting a 248.57 million ringgit ($65.4 million) net loss. This is despite a 949.6 million ringgit gain from aircraft and engine sales. The carrier lost 700.05 million ringgit the previous year.
Source: Flight International
