TROUBLED MALAYSIAN AIRLINES IS PLANNING TO UNDERGO A COMPLETE OVERHAUL

File photo of Malaysia Airlines planes on the tarmac
at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Loss-making Malaysia Airlines is set to undergo a complete overhaul as it is restructured into a new company, with a rebranding that will be unveiled next week and changes planned to its fleet and network strategies.

Christoph Mueller, who joined from Irish national carrier Aer Lingus, said in his first ever interview since taking over as chief executive on May 1 that the new company will be like a "start-up".

A new name and livery are on the cards for Malaysia Airlines (MAS), sources told Reuters.

"I'm hired to run the new company entirely on commercial terms and there's very little margin for error," Mueller told Reuters at the downtown Kuala Lumpur office of Malaysian state investor Khazanah, which took MAS private late last year as part of a 6 billion ringgit ($1.66 billion) restructuring.

"It's not a continuation of the old company in a new disguise, everything is new," said Mueller, who helped turn around carriers such as Aer Lingus, Belgium’s Sabena, and Germany's Lufthansa.

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