The managing director of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, says it has no plans to sell the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), parent entity of Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International).

Speaking about the airline while delivering Khazanah's 2022 financial results in Kuala Lumpur last week, Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said MAG was cash flow positive and the fund had no short-term plans to unwind its aviation investment. Khazanah took on MAG in 2014 and immediately put into place a MYR6 billion ringgit (USD1.36 billion dollar) five-year turnaround program. They backed that up in 2021 with a credit line of MYR3.6 billion (USD810 million) to assist Malaysia Airlines during the pandemic. At the results briefing, Zahir said MAG had drawn MYR1.3 billion (USD290 million) of that capital and confirmed that the sovereign wealth fund would hold onto 100% of MAG until at least 2025.

"It's a blessing for us that they're cash positive," he told media. "They seized the moment during the crisis fixing the balance sheet and making sure there's a focus on making the whole airline profitable." The MD also said there were plans to acquire more aircraft to increase the amount of flying the MAG airlines did. "We're not being sequential, we prefer dynamic thinking. We have a turnaround plan in place and want to make sure they have the assets to get replacement aircrafts. Let the airline fix itself and we will continue to monitor the situation."

Post 2025, Zahir said that if MAG continued to make money and had recovered from the pandemic, a strategic partnership with an international operator was an option. "Get the airline steady and then we may see them form alliances with other airlines," he said. In addition to MAG, Khazanah also owns Malaysia Airports Holdings, owners and operators of 39 airports in Malaysia, including KLIA.

According to ch-aviation PRO airlines data, Malaysia Airlines is flying to 72 destinations in 22 countries with a fleet of 89 aircraft, including six A330-200s, three A330-200Fs, fifteen A330-300s, six A350-900s, ten wet-leased ATR72-500s, forty three B737-800s, and six wet-leased DHC-6-400s. The carrier's subsidiary airlines include Firefly, Amal by Malaysia Airlines, and MASwings.