PETALING JAYA, June 25 ― Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said today it was considering “all options” for a “radical” turnaround of the ailing flag carrier, and refused to rule out drastic measures such as a bankruptcy or selling off the airline.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting shareholders at an annual general meeting at the MAS Academy, chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof also declined to provide a timeframe for the turnaround plan.

“We will explore all options, we are not here to discuss what is the final decision, as far as the plan is concerned, we are discussing all options and we are narrowing down to a select few,”  Ahmad Jauhari told reporters.

“Once we have finalised with that, then we will obviously go back to the shareholders, to inform them and obviously we will inform the rest of the world.”

On June 10, state sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional that is the main shareholder of MAS projected that the struggling airline has enough resources to keep operating for another 12 months.

MAS had reported a loss of RM443 million for its previous quarter, saying a traditionally weak period was compounded by its loss of Flight MH370 with 239 people on board.

Since 2011, MAS has racked up losses of almost RM4 billion.

Today, Ahmad Jauhari stressed that despite losing more money in 2013 than the previous year, the airline has increased passenger revenue by 10 per cent, booking an additional RM1.09 billion.

He added that the passenger capacity increased 17 per cent, and the airline saw the highest ever use of its seat capacity, at 93.5 per cent.

However, he said the disappearance of MH370 in March has increased pressure for the airline to turn its business around.

Ahmad Jauhari pointed out that the airline has four strong assets, namely its fleet of new aircraft, award-winning services, safety track record, and engineering arm.

“The only way we can unleash the true value of all these assets that we’ve built over many years is to have real set of radical change in the way we operate the airline.

“We are looking at all options and I’m not saying yes, or no right now but every option will be explored,” he said.

Ahmad Jauhari said MAS is reviewing its fleet requirement and it is looking at adding more seats to the 777 fleet over six months beginning in October.

When asked if there will be job cuts, Ahmad Jauhari reiterated that the company is looking at “all options”.

Meanwhile, Md Nor confirmed that the airline has enough cash until a new turnaround plan comes into effect, with more than RM3 billion.

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told Parliament that although MAS was incurring losses, the direction of the airline company was yet to be determined and the financial implication to the government would depend on the outcome of the due diligence being undertaken by the main shareholder, Khazanah Nasional.

Analysts are increasingly raising the prospect of a bankruptcy or heavy restructuring of the group to stave off the looming disaster.

In April, a month after MH370’s disappearance, Ahmad Jauhari said it could take the airline as long as six months to recover from the impact of the crisis, but indications are surfacing to suggest it is running out of time.