Malaysia Airlines has been in bad shape for a while now and the government was wondering whether to sell it, refinance it or simply shut it down.

20 potential investors have declared their interest in making a strategic investment in the airline and the sovereign wealth fund that owns it, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has just established a short-list of 4 with whom it will enter into more advanced discussions.

And the lucky ones are :

• Qatar Airways. The Qatari airline already holds stakes in LATAM, IAG (British Airways, Iberia…), Air Italy among others and is member of OneWorld as Malaysia.

– Japan Airlines, also a member of OneWorld.

– China Southern, which is leaving Skyteam at the end of the year without joining any alliance for the moment.

– A fourth unknown player but not an airline. An investment fund?

The decision will have to come quickly as the airline does not have enough cash to survive beyond April 2020.

Of course the choice will have serious consequences for Malaysia Airlines but also for OneWorld. The alliance is indeed “weak” in this area of Asia against Star Alliance and has no partner in China as the other two alliances. It has also recently lost LATAM and its presence in South America. When we know that Qatar is constantly threatening to leave the alliance, Malaysia’s “destination” will be anything but anecdotal.

Otherwise in the series of “big sick”, we should finally know within a month what happens to Alitalia. As for Thai, the situation is most worrying.

Photo : B737-800 Malaysia Airlines by Phuong D. Nguyen via Shutterstock

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