AirAsia's CEO open to hiring laid off Malaysia Airlines staff

Following reports that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is planning to fire 6,000 staff as part of its restructuring plan, low-cost carrier AirAsia has stated it would be willing it "absorb" some of the retrenched employees as part of its workforce.

According to a report from Bernama, AirAsia’s chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes commented that ex-MAS employees currently constitute almost half of his entire workforce.

“We have grown from 200 employees to 15,000 and a lot of them came from MAS,” Fernandes was quoted as saying after launching a collaboration campaign with Petronas Dagangan Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

“AirAsia X and AirAsia are growing, of course we will do the best to absorb as many as possible and we have been (absorbing MAS staff) anyway.”

ALSO READ: Malaysia Airlines cuts 6,000 jobs

He added the transition of employees from MAS joining the AirAsia group was healthy, due to differing preferences of airline employees - some of whom might want to work with low-cost carriers rather than premium airlines.

“Some of AirAsia staff have gone to MAS as well and that is healthy as there are some people wanting low-cost and some wanting premium airlines,” he said.

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