National carrier Malaysia Airlines named a senior executive from energy giant Shell as its new managing director, ending intense speculation and a row over reports it would hire a foreigner.

Idris Jala, 47, is currently managing director of Shell MDS, the multinational's middle distillates plant in eastern Sarawak state on Borneo island, the national Bernama news agency reported.

He replaces Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan effective December 1, 2005, it said.

The airline recently announced one of its worst ever quarterly losses at RM280.66 million in the three months to June after a profit of RM26.58 million a year earlier.

Managing director Ahmad Fuaad resigned at the same time, prompting reports that a foreign national might be brought in to improve competitiveness.

Disappointing result

The government's investment arm Khazanah Nasional, which holds a 69.3 percent interest in the airline, was reportedly considering approaching several "big names" from overseas for the position, to boost its flagging performance.

The report prompted an uproar, with critics calling the alleged plan "another form of colonisation."

Malaysia Airlines said the reports were merely "based on speculation".

After posting the disappointing result quarterly result, Malaysia Airlines announced an ambitious five-year plan to boost profits by up to RM1 billion, including shaking up its management.