Beleaguered MAS to present turnaround plan

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia Airline System, the carrier whose jet was shot down over Ukraine last week, will present a turnaround plan this week to the government fund that controls it, people familiar with the matter said.

The proposals to be presented to majority owner Khazanah Nasional will include taking the company private or allowing it to go bankrupt and then renegotiating union contracts, said one of the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private. Khazanah, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, owns 69.4 per cent of the carrier.

The unprecedented loss of 537 lives and two planes in a span of four months has put Malaysia Air's future in doubt. Even a month before the latest disaster, Khazanah was estimating that the unprofitable airline only had enough funds to last it about a year.