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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - The government will end subsidies to flag carrier Malaysia Airlines and let it operate only 19 domestic routes — in competition with budget carrier AirAsia — under a major restructuring announced Monday that will shed thousands of jobs.
The new rules will become effective Aug. 1, and leave the state-owned airline with only a handful of its original 118 domestic routes, said a statement on the Web site of the prime minister's office.
Malaysian Airline System Bhd., the company that operates the airline, said in a separate statement that it will have to fire 6,500 employees from its current staff of 23,000 because of the reduced operations.
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