KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 ― The government's latest effort to resuscitate ailing flag carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is likely to go the way of previous failed attempts unless it shows an appetite for difficult but necessary decisions, said the Financial Times.

In an analysis titled “Malaysia Airlines seeks change of fortune”, the UK business daily pointed out that a lack of political will to push through a radical haul of the airline has seen three such attempts to turn its fortune around falling short.

“An earlier attempt at restructuring in 2010, involving a share swap with AirAsia, foundered partly amid lack of political will so close to a general election the following year,” the FT said.

But it added that Putrajaya may now have the required breathing room to carry out a radical revamp of MAS, as it has been returned to power in Election 2013, giving it four years until it must face the voters again.

Among the most vocal critics of the previous move were the airline's powerful workers union, which contested the merger over concern for their jobs and welfare.

MAS keeps almost 19,500 people on its payroll to operate its 108 aircraft, or nearly 50 per cent more than Singapore Airlines employs to fly just five fewer planes.

The high employee headcount has been identified as one of the main issues bogging down the airline ― along with lopsided contracts with its suppliers ― and will be one of the testy subjects that must be tackled in the turnaround.

“That will mean persuading the airline’s strong employee unions to back a workforce pruning.

“While the union representing the majority of employees has welcomed any plan to revive the airline, it has called for new management, including the removal of Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, chief executive since 2011,” the FT wrote in its report.

Despite having time and knowing the measures needed to revive MAS's fortunes, one senior airline executive expressed doubt that Putrajaya will adopt the radical restructuring needed instead of “fudging it”.

“The jury is absolutely out on that,” the person told the FT.

On Friday, sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional announced plans to privatise MAS in an attempt to revive the national carrier that was hit by twin aviation disasters ― MH370 in March and MH17 last month ― even as it was struggling financially.

It offered MAS shareholders RM1.38 billion for the remainder of the airline's shares that it did not already own, in the first step towards what Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak described as a “comprehensive and holistic” revamp.

Prior to the privatisation move, MAS had bled over RM4 billion over the previous three years and was on course to exhaust its cash reserves within a year.