Malaysia Airlines-AirAsia tie-up ruled out by MAS CEO
The prospect of a Malaysia Airlines-AirAsia merger has been ruled out by MAS CEO Christoph Mueller, who said it would not benefit customers.
"I am a strict opponent to this, I would absolutely advocate for each country to have two carriers," he said, adding that healthy competition on routes will keep air fares down.
"If prices from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu or Kuching are subjected to a monopoly situation, it is not good for both the economy and country," he said.
AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes recently revealed the two airlines were in discussions to potentially operate joint maintenance facilities.
This led to talk of possible cooperation across all flight operations or even a merger.
Several years ago MAS and AirAsia entered into a tentative agreement to form an alliance and not compete on the same routes but this was aborted following a public outcry.
However, AirAsia said it could take over some of the domestic routes MAS is scrapping as long as they were financially viable.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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