Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has blamed one of his predecessors for various "horrendous" decisions made in the past concerning national flag carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

In his speech at the Malaysia Aviation Group Raya celebrations in Sepang today, Najib noted how the airline had gone through many "difficult periods".

"The history of MAS was fraught with, I would say, horrendous decisions in the past.

"I'm not going down that road but that was a nightmare that was inflicted upon MAS that was done by one of my predecessors.

"But I will put it right. I will make sure MAS recovers and becomes one of the leading airlines in the world," said Najib to applause from thousands in the audience present at the event.

Although Najib did not mention any names, it is clear that he was referring to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, due to the bad blood between them.

MAS began suffering losses in the 1990s after Mahathir privatised the airline. The company's privatisation deal saw its former chairperson Tajudin Ramli taking out a RM1.79 billion loan in 1994 to buy a 32 percent majority stake in the airline.

Affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Tajudin later sold his stake in MAS to the government for RM1.79 billion.

MAS has since undergone three business turnarounds at an estimated cost of nearly RM20 billion to the government.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to ensure that MAS would truly become one of the best airlines in the world, Najib said this was the reason why he had decided to give the airline's employees extra ex-gratia payment before Hari Raya.

"We discussed with the Khazanah (Nasional Berhad) board [...] I agreed that we should pay (ex-gratia payment) because I believe all of you deserve it," he said, to more applause from the audience.

Earlier, Najib said that he could feel that the airline's staff today had a higher sense of pride.

This, he said, was a result of the government's efforts to recover MAS in line with its recovery plan.

He was thankful that the plan had come to fruition.

"I can confirm, after speaking to (MAS chief executive officer) Peter Bellew, that he expects MAS to be in the black hopefully by next year."

The government is now focusing on the plan's second phase which includes the 11 additional routes to China.

Commenting on MAS' decision to lay off some 6,000 staff in 2014, Najib confirmed that 78 percent from those retrenched had registered for job opportunities.

"From this figure, 98 percent has managed to get jobs. This shows that we have achieved what we have planned."

"As far as I'm concerned and many Malaysians (too), we do not look at MAS as an ordinary airline, or just an airline; to us MAS is about the nation, MAS is our icon, our pride and glory.

"We must make sure MAS recovers and will fly high and soar to great heights. This is our commitment and I hope you will share with us," he said.

In August 2014, Khazanah announced a RM6 billion plan to rescue the ailing airline, aimed at returning it to profit within three years or by 2017.

The 12-point plan had involved the formation of a new company to take over the assets and business of the old company and a 30 percent or 6,000 job cuts.