This quote says it all about the rivalry between MAS and Airasia. When you have a competitor in the form of Airasia, MAS is forced to be competitive and therefore the exercises done by Idris Jala, the previous managing director has resulted the company to be profitable again. However, sustaining the development has been hard for MAS. And in a weird twist, MAS has turn to its nemesis for help. Tony Fernandez will help definitely but with business intention agenda that is. Eliminating a competitor is one of the goals for every businesses. This is because with less competition, the more the business can control the price of its product.
So, by merging/share-swapping between MAS and Airasia, both entities benefit as they eliminated their competitors. But in the long run, the customers are the victims as prices will not be as cheap as before.