Tengku Zafrul: No decision yet on whether to shut down MAGB

KUALA LUMPUR: The government still has not made a decision on whether to shut down Malaysian Aviation Group Bhd (MAGB), says Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

MAGB is an entity under Khazanah Nasional Bhd that owns Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB).

“The decision to close down MAGB’s operations depends on MAGB’s negotiations with its creditors and lessors for the company’s restructuring.

“At the same time, Khazanah’s management will also carry out its best efforts to ensure that the welfare of its staff members are taken care of, including adequate compensation payments in line with employment laws.”

Zafrul was speaking during his ministerial winding up speech on Budget 2021 debates at the committee stage in Parliament Monday (Nov 30).

Earlier in his speech, Zafrul said the government will continue to assist MAB in paying the cost of purchase of A380 planes that it made in the past.

“When Covid-19 hit, the government began to assist paying the loan with RM180mil this year, and it will be continued with RM219mil next year.”

Zafrul said that to date, Khazanah has injected RM28bil into MAGB, and its liabilities totalling to RM16bil will be restructured.

He also said that from 2015 to 2018, MAGB has been making losses every year, namely RM1.1bil in 2015; RM0.7bil in 2016; RM1.2bil in 2017; and RM1.3bil in 2018.

As of Aug 31 this year, MAGB’s liquidity stood at RM366mil, Zafrul said.

“Covid-19’s impact on the world is very bad and MAB is not exempted from it. MAB is currently operating with 75% of its aircraft unable to fly due to travel restrictions, causing its capacity and income to be adversely affected, ” he added.