I know the days of Flag Carriers are diminishing but still, its sad to see such a venerable airline fall from grace.
Strangely, back in Communist days Malev was one of the better run Eastern Bloc carriers prefering to focus on an all Tupolev fleet and Medium Haul routes to support tourism rather then have prestige long range and thirsty IL-62s.
Sadly, the writing has been on the wall for several years. The privitisation was extremely drawn out and then Malev was sold to the now defunct Russian group AirBridge. Their only action was to order more Russian aircraft....Sukhoi 100s. Renationialisation followed once AirBridge had their own troubles at home. You would wonder how Malev would have fared had one of the other Consortiums triumphed in the bidding. Maybe enough reforms would have been made , as there were several experienced aviation industry from Western Europe (including an ex EI excutive). Then again, one of the under bidders was FlyLAL!
I can see the merits of the position regarding State aid. However, when Europe permits AF-KLM merger you can't help but think that their isn't a level playing field.
Good luck to all the staff.