Malaysia's national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, will be destroyed by the competition faced from other airlines if a regional open-skies agreement is finalised, a union official warned.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has agreed that, by the end of 2008, there will be free passage of capital-to-capital flights among member countries, due to be implemented by 2008.

The Malaysian Airlines Employees Union said in a letter to Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy yesterday that freedom to use airspace and landing rights for other airlines would see Malaysia Airlines stripped of its protection.

"The open-skies agreement will not provide any protection for national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS). It could also destroy MAS by opening too wide a door to competition from other airlines," union general secretary Abdul Malek Ariff said.

"The union opposes the move to sign open-skies agreements and any move to abolish protection for Malaysia Airlines as a national carrier," Abdul Malek said.

Congested airports

He said under the agreement there would be no limit on landing rights within the countries concerned.

"As such, the airports would become busy and congested simply for the sake of competition, and would also create problems for MAS workers," he said.

Abdul Malek's comments comes after Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy had met with his Singaporean counterpart to discuss opening the lucrative Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route to budget airlines.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia has lauded the agreement, saying it would allow the airline to fly to more Southeast Asian nations in the near future, including neighbouring Singapore, a major regional aviation hub.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines, along with Singapore Airlines, currently has a monopoly on the lucrative Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route.