Malev has been the national carrier of Hungary for over 62 years. The airline maintained a state of steady growth while the Hungarian Government owned it by adding new destinations and expanding the fleet year after year. In March of 2007, Malev was sold to AirBridge Zrt., a Hungarian holdings company owned by Boris
Abramovich of KrasAir. The new owners wanted to secure profitability at all costs which they did by cutting the airline and its workforce in half within a year. The Russian owners promised to inject millions of Euros into Malev and work towards further growth. Soon after the serge of oil prices, Malev cancelled its long-haul ops, started to lay off staff and put its plans of expansion towards the east on hold.

MA is facing several major issues. The airline is swimming in debt, owning the most to BA the operators of BUD. Major labour issues with the pilots who held a APA supported demonstration this past Friday in front of the airlines head offices. The airlines first of 4 leased Q400 was scheduled to start ops 2 weeks ago but it’s sitting at CPH. Management claimed that high fuel prices were to blame for the cancellation of long-haul ops, however prices have recently dropped which made employees question the hard-hitting decision causing further tension between MA and its staff. Finally perhaps the biggest problem facing Malev, its cash strapped owners who also own KrasAir. KrasAir is an airline facing also bankruptcy. They were recently forced to cancel flight due to lack of finaces to pay for fuel. A bleak outlook for Malev, either the airline will go into bankruptcy and be resurrected into a viable airline or it will be swallowed by one of Europe major airlines.

KrisYYZ

http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/9989/219/