SEPANG (July 27): Malaysia Airlines Bhd will decide on its proposed new or second-hand aircraft purchases by end of this year as the company waits for a good price.

Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Peter Bellew said aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing had offered Malaysia Airlines better deals but the pricing was "still not good enough".

"We buy them (aircraft) for the long term. I'm not happy with the prices yet and we are going to continue to negotiate with them to try to get a better price.

"But we've also gotten some very attractive offers on relatively-new second-hand aircraft. One way or the other, we will have a decision by the end of this year, if not sooner," Bellew said.

He was speaking to reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here today during the launch of Malaysia Airlines's innovation lab.

On Malaysia Airlines Hajj-charter operations, Bellew said the group expected to announce the potential business partners for the planned haj-charter company by the first quarter of 2018 instead of end of 2017.

He said the new Hajj-charter company might be a separate entity from Malaysia Airlines. "I think we may not be a shareholder, ultimately, in the company," he said.