Today, Malaysia Airlines (a.k.a. MAS) announced a RM321 million first quarter loss, blaming it squarely on higher fuel costs. Worse still is its attempt at preemptive measures by announcing that we could see the same thing next quarter (even though it has hedged most of its 2006 fuel requirement at US$57 a barrel).

So, is this merely one of the temporary symptoms of massive restructuring, or the harbinger for continued failure?