(AFP) updated version - Malaysia Airlines announced today it would be delisted from the stock exchange and that it would split its domestic and international operations as part of restructure plans.

The loss-making flag carrier was listed on the main board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1985.

Managing director Mohamad Nor Yusof said the airline's listing status would be transferred to a new subsidiary, which would take over its international passenger and cargo services.

The airline would retain the loss-making domestic operations, he said.

"Malaysia Airlines will continue as the national carrier. (The new company) will be its subsidiary," Mohamad Nor told a news conference.

"The substance is the same but the form is that the parent company is outsourcing internally to run its international services and cargo."

No date has been set for its delisting but Mohamad Nor said the airline hoped to complete the entire reorganisation "within a reasonable timeframe."

He said the move would help to "sharpen the focus of activities," with the new company pursuing market opportunities and Malaysia Airlines fulfilling its national agenda.

"Clearly it will take a few years just to get out from the situation ... you have to think of repairs, continuity and sustainability. We try to distribute some of the functions," he said.

"Repairs and rehabilitation being put to one side and building up new business and opportunities on another side. Otherwise our priorities can get distracted."

Brandname to stay

Mohamad Nor said the new company would enter into an agreement to assume the airline's debts and that the group would stay "intact" as the Malaysia Airlines' brandname would remain.

The new company would be more than 50 percent controlled by Malaysia Airlines, which would be wholly-owned by the government after the reorganisation, he added.

Currently, the government holds a direct 29 percent stake in the carrier and another 54 percent indirectly through various state agencies.

The carrier, struggling under some RM10 billion in debt, embarked on a restructuring plan last year to return to the black by 2004 after the government renationalised it in February.

Earlier this month, it said it would sell properties and aircraft to the government to raise some RM6.1 billion to repay yen-denominated bonds, retire short-term loans and take delivery of five new aircraft.

Malaysia Airlines has announced a net loss of RM1.112 billion for the nine months to December, up 23 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said the government was still considering requests by several foreign airlines to acquire stakes in the carrier and was likely to make a decision once the restructuring was completed.