Actually the share swap is between the major shareholders of MAS and Khazanah. For the minority shareholders there arent any effect at all besides maybe concerns that Tan Sri Tony now has to split his time managing two airlines instead of one.

TF and gang bought AA a then lost making airliner from DRB-Hicom. So back then TF did telan the lost making AA and see where is AA now

1) He will not be awarded Tan Sri title soon. He is already in fact Tan Sri Tony F. MAS does not own airports. MAHB owns airports. So by AA and MAS having the same major shareholders it will not affect any "airport issues" directly. Indirectly however, Khazanah being a common shareholder of AA, MAS and MAHB might have influence on "airport issues" to the advantage of AA.

2) Government or not. It will be a herculean task for TF to turn around MAS. If he succeeds he is one hell of a magician.

3) AA and MAS competes on different markets. AA has branded itself a low cost carrier while MAS is a premium airliner. Competitions for AA would perhaps be Tiger Airways and JetStar while competition for MAS would be Singapore Airlines and Emirates. To note however, MAS also has Fireflyz which is branded as MAS's low cost carrier franchise. AA and Fireflyz might be condescending but if not wrong only a few routes "cross" paths. For consumers, AA would still offer economical alternatives to travel compared to flying full fledged premium airlines. Sole purpose or business model for AA is to offer economical alternatives to travel by air if its fares are cheaper by a significant premium to MAS or any other premium airlines i think we as consumers are getting our bargains to travel economically. As for MAS, if TF is indeed successful in his herculean task then you and I who travel full fledged carriers will then get our monies worth. We will get better and improved services for the same price we pay today.

If you ask me... win win for all. there might be concerns that AA's gearing is very high. But that is a separate issue altogether and has nothing to do with this share swap (which has nothing to do with AA or MAS since its at shareholder level not company level). Airliners are capex intensive not surprising to have high gearing. but doubts do arise if AA is able to manage its high gearing if the high gearing is manageable and AA is able to improve its earnings i think the business is sustainable.