MAS-Air Asia Merger: AA saviour or being saved?

Depending on who gives the opinion, there is more than meets the eyes.

With such a mega merger, there are bound to be differences of opinions; praises or criticisms which come naturally when you stand to gain or you have been left out of the loop; from politicians, depending on which side you are on, as well as whether you are supposed to support because of loyalty to your leaders who are involved in the deal.

The first salvo was quick, coming from Sakmongkol AK47 in his latest post: Sting is in the air?
http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2011/08/sting-is-in-air.html

Excerpt:

"I know this is a BAD deal because Dr Mahathir said so. Dr Mahathir always say something when he actually mean the reverse.

Yeah baby, what can we learn from AA?

How about the home grown talent’s records then? Well, let’s see. As of the 1st Quarter of 2011, Air Asia (AA) debts amounted to 7.7 billion with cash balances amounting to 1.7billion. This part doesn’t require teaching for MAS. Its executives are renowned masters.

Let’s see further. Hmm, in August 2010. AA announced a deferment of their proposed aircraft purchases but sometime in June 2011 they reversed their decision and proceeded to place an order for an additional 200 new aircrafts at the Paris Air Show. No big deal, we can order as many as we want. Possibly the commissions earned from the purchases dwarf the one earned from the Scorpene submarines which are not submersible."

The above caught my eyes because only recently I discussed with a friend what Tony Fernandes used to complain: "What do I get for being a so-called crony?" Besides, being given a relatively free hand to run the airline (read without harassment from authorities, probably even favoured treatment upon certain requests), commissions should be a motivating factor too. Many people believe Tony is fronting for some VVIPs like Tun Dr. Mahathir, Tun Dr. Ling, Ananda Krishnan and so on. AK is being used as flight letters before the numbers which many presumed to be relating to Ananda Krishnan. AK47 of the blogger is just coincidence!

Meanwhile, let's see what the aviation specialists or financial analysts have to say.

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