Malaysia Airlines to rename, restructure to survive
28 Jul 2014
Malaysia Airlines, which is reeling under two successive catastrophic tragedies, is hoping to reverse its misfortuned with a change of name and restructuring of routes, according to a newspaper report.
The Malaysian state-owned carrier, which met with two major accidents that resulted in the loss of life to 537 people over the last six months, is planning a major overhaul, including a change of name and fresh investments in order to rebuild its business, The Telegraph reported.
In March, a Malaysia Airline flight MH370 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers, including 5 Indians, and crew, lost touch with the air traffic control, an hour after take-off and the wreckage is yet to be found (See: Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 vanishes over South China Sea).
Earlier this month, a Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airline plane carrying 298 people on board from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by Ukranian rebels between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk, close to Donetsk, in Ukraine, killing all its 298 occupants (See: Malaysia Airlines plane crash kills 298 ).
"Our majority shareholder, the Malaysian government, has already started a process of assessing the future shape of our business and that process will now be speeded up as a result of MH17," Malaysia Airline's commercial director Hugh Dunleavy wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.
Dunleavy insists that despite the "tragic loss" of two aircraft, the airline would eventually "emerge stronger".
"There are several options on the table but all involve creating an airline fit for purpose in what is a new era for us, and other airlines," he said.
The airline, which carries 50,000 passengers a day and employs 20,000 staff, has to survive by all means and is looking at other options, including creating an all new airline fit to survive in the new era, the report stated.
