Malaysian Airline System Berhad (MYX: 3786), doing business as Malaysia Airlines (abbreviated MAS), is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and with a secondary hub at Kuching. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor. The airline plans to relocate its headquarters from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport to KLIA in February 2012.

Malaysia Airlines operates flights in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Middle East and on the Kangaroo Route between Europe and Australasia. It operates transpacific flights from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles, via Tokyo.

Apart from the airline the group also includes aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and aircraft handling. Malaysia Airlines has two airline subsidiaries: Firefly and MASwings. Firefly operates scheduled flights from its two home bases Penang International Airport and Subang International Airport. The airline focuses on tertiary cities. MASwings focuses on inter-Borneo flights. Malaysia Airlines has a freighter fleet operated by MASKargo, which manages freighter flights and aircraft cargo-hold capacity for all Malaysia Airlines' passenger flights. MASCharter is another subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, operating charter flights using Malaysia Airlines' aircraft. After recovering from past losses, Malaysia Airlines is keen on merger and acquisition (M&A) activities: particularly airlines in the Asia Pacific region. Malaysia Airlines was ranked second with score 88 in Aviation Week's Top Performing Companies which measures financial viability of an airline.

Malaysia (ⁱ/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or ⁱ/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.

Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.