Malaysia Airlines will likely be profitable by the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19), says CEO Izham Ismail.

"The market outlook for the national carrier for 2018 is tough. However, the airline is progressing and it is gaining traction. Our internal target is to be profitable this year.

"The team knows my aspiration and I am holding all of them very tightly to keep working on this year but the first quarter of 2019 will be more realistic," he told a press conference after witnessing the signing of a Training Partnership Agreement between Malaysia Airlines Academy Bhd and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) here today.

Malaysia Airlines Academy is the training arm of the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG).

Izham, who is also MAG Group CEO, said the partnership would not include any profit-sharing and was a purely knowledge-sharing contract that was renewable.

"I do not discount the possibility of a joint-venture with IATA to turn our training academy into an approved organisation. This will be the next phase.

"This has been our ambition for the last 10 years. However, we could not operationalise the academy given the airline's hardship in the past," he said.

The partnership would allow the academy to offer the initial 10 lATA courses, with the first training to begin on Feb 26, 2018, he said.

On Malaysia Airlines' recent uptick in hiring activity, Izham said the exercise was done to address the group's overall high attrition rate of 16 percent.

He said job applications of the 6,000 workers who exited the company would be given higher priority if their skills are required.

"We remain steadfast to keep our workforce at 14,000 for the group, of which 12,500 are of Malaysia Airlines.

"About 95 percent of the 6,000 workers who left the airline have started new careers and on greener pastures while less than five percent are still being mentored by the Corporate Development Centre," he said.

- Bernama