Malaysia Airlines to sell or lease entire A380 fleet?

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is believed to have put several of its aircraft, including its six A380 super-jumbos, on sale or lease.

According to an aviation industry website, Leeham News, MAS is offering for sale or lease all six of its Airbus A380s, its two Boeing 747-400Fs, four Airbus A330-200Fs and four Boeing 777-200ERs, as it seeks to restructure following a disastrous last year.

It said that MAS has four A330 freighters, as well as 13 passenger A330s plus 13 777-200ERs, The Star Online reported.

Even though the airline has to yet to confirm the news, the airline’s crew and pilots see it as the first signs of downsizing the workforce.

The sale could mean that about 250 pilots and 300 crew members might be made redundant.

A few weeks ago, there was talk that the airline was negotiating with Turkish Airlines to lease out two of its A380s.

But that seems to have fallen through, the report said.

MAS is downsizing its workforce to 14,000, thereby letting go of about 6,000 employees.

Source: Star Online