Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and its owner Khazanah Nasional Bhd should not blame the airline's losses to MAS staff, the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) said.

Instead, Khazanah must admit fault for the national carrier’s mismanagement, it said.

"Losing RM12billion is not a joke and stop the blame for your own failures,” it said.  

Nufam also urged Khazanah to rescind plans to lay off 6,000 MAS staff.

"Were the workers the ones who caused MAS to lose so much?" the union questioned.

The lay-offs are part of Khazanah’s plan to turn the ailing company around, on top of the RM6billion government aid.

Khazanah data shows that MAS has a lower worker productivity rate compared to Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Staff costs make up a fifth of MAS' operating expenses.

Nufam also criticised Khazanah for its reaction to Jentayu Danaraksa’s proposed plan to rescue the airlines.

Khazanah cancelled a meeting with Jentayu after Jentayu made public its RM8.75 billion plan to help MAS the day before.

The sovereign wealth fund said that this goes against professional conduct and its policies which requires all proposals to be kept confidential.