The soft launch of the proposed new short-haul brand by national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, is expected to take place next month, its chief operating officer (Short Haul), Ignatius Ong said.

He said the new airline, which has yet to be named, is expected to be fully operational by the middle of this year.

"In April, we are looking to launch the name as well as its logo. However, we are still targeting it to be fully operational in middle of this year," he said during a media briefing today.

The short-haul airline was introduced by the fresh management of Malaysia Airlines headed by group chief executive officer, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, as part of the national carrier's business turnaround plan.

The new airline will be flying entirely on new Boeing 737-800 fleet of aircrafts and would be specifically targeted to meet the needs of Asia's premium travellers.

Malaysia Airlines' posted RM2.52 billion net loss for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011, the biggest-ever in its corporate history, on the back of RM13.9 billion revenue. -- Bernama