According to Reuters, which quoted The Edge Weekly in its report today, the national carrier may be seeking as much as RM2.1 billion as financial aid from its sole shareholder and sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional.

Malaysia Airlines did not disclose to the weekly how much cash it had exactly asked from the government but the report cited other sources as saying it could be this amount.

The report said neither Malaysia Airlines nor Khazanah had responded to the news agency’s requests for comment immediately.

The airline is seeking to restructure after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to slash its ailing operations.

Reuters reported last month that Khazanah had warned leasing companies that it would stop funding the group and force it to wind down if the restructuring talks with the lessors failed.

Previously, Khazanah had pumped in billions of ringgit for the airline to stay afloat.

This time around, the government has yet to make any such commitment to bail out the struggling company as the debate on how to save the national carrier rages on.

Last month, its CEO Izham Ismail said in a staff memo that the restructuring talks were taking longer than planned.

The Edge had reported that the talks were in the final stages and that it was targeting to reach commercial agreement in early December.