SUBANG JAYA, May 29 — A union representing over half of Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) employees will issue a memorandum to plead with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to step in and save the ailing airline that has suffered even greater losses in the months following MH370’s disappearance.

Mohd Jabbarullah Abd Kadir, executive secretary of Malaysian Airlines System Employees Union (Maseu), said the national carrier needs a fresh set of leaders to lead the company to profitability again.

“It is time for us to beg the PM to intervene, to save MAS. This is a big hope for us,” he told reporters at the Maseu office here, later saying that Putrajaya should not wait for the company to further bleed financially before taking action.

“When we send the memorandum to the PM next week when he returns from China, we will tell the government what are the problems, we will tell the PM,” he added.

Although the memorandum is still being drafted, Mohd Jabbarullah confirmed that it will include a demand for three top MAS figures to step down and a request for a new and comprehensive plan to turnaround the loss-making airline.

The government’s investment arm Khazanah Nasional owns a substantial stake in MAS, which recorded a loss of RM443 million in the first quarter this year.

According to Mohd Jabbarullah, MAS has been plagued by numerous resignations of dissatisfied staff opting for better pay and poor management.

He claimed that over 100 engineers and 36 junior engineers had left MAS over the past two years, alleging that an estimated 20 cabin crew members quit the company each month.

With employees allegedly seeing “no future” in remaining in the company, MAS has become a “training ground” for future employees of other airlines, he lamented.

Maseu had previously called for the resignations of  MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, director of engineering Azhari Dahlan and director of human resources Zahrah Zaid, but today declined to put a deadline for the request to be fulfilled.

The union had also protested on Monday against the rumoured plans to sell off MAS's engineering unit, insisting that all units should continue to remain under one entity.

Mohd Jabbarullah today said the picket was legal, but declined to say whether the union plans on holding more pickets or even a strike.

“We haven't planned any pickets yet, maybe the government will pay attention to our problems.

“It's very important, if we are under a crisis, facing various challenges, the country's image is not affected. That's why Maseu is very careful, we don't want to jeopardise our country's image, our airline's image,” he said.

*A previous edition of the story contained an error which has since been corrected.