Malaysia Airlines on Friday decided to cut 6,000 staff in overhaul, routes in reform plan
Azman Mokhtar, head of state investment fund Khazanah Nasional said the airline would carry out a "route rationalisation" -- a term Malaysia Airlines has used previously for cutting unprofitable routes -- and to pick a new CEO by the end of 2014. (
Kuala Lumpur: Key dates in the history of Malaysia Airlines from its start as a one route airline until its almost unfathomable double passenger jet disasters in 2014.
1937 - Malayan Airways Ltd., the forerunner of Malaysia Airlines, is formed to provide flights between Penang in Malaya and Singapore, both part of the British empire at the time.
1963 - A now independent Malaysia absorbs neighboring British colonies and the national carrier becomes Malaysian Airlines Ltd.
1972 - The carrier is renamed Malaysian Airline System and later branded as Malaysia Airlines.
2012 - Wins "World's Best Crew" award from airline rating firm Skytrax, the 7th time it has claimed that industry accolade since 2001.
2013 - Losing ground to budget airline rivals, losses at Malaysia Airlines balloon to 1.17 billion ringgit ($363 million), nearly three times larger than its 433 million ringgit loss in 2012.
March 8, 2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 severs contact with air traffic control en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and veers far of course with 239 people on board; searchers have still not located the plane which is believed to have crashed into the southern Atlantic Ocean.
March 10 - Shares of Malaysia Airlines plunge 20 percent when stock market trading opens on the Monday after Flight 370 vanished.
May 29 - The Malaysia Airlines union calls for the resignation of CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, saying new management is needed to revive the beleaguered flag carrier.
June 25 - CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya says the airline's business is seeing a "significant recovery" from the Flight 370 tragedy but must undergo radical changes to survive.
July 17 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is blasted out of the sky over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels, killing all 298 people on board.
July 18 - Malaysia Airlines shares drop 14 percent. Analysts estimate the airline is losing $1.6 million a day and won't survive a year without a bailout.
Early Aug - Malaysia Airlines says passengers dropped 11 percent in July compared with a year earlier.
Aug 29 - Malaysia's state investment fund, which owns 69 percent of Malaysia Airlines, says 30 percent of the airline's 20,000 staff will be cut as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul to return the airline to profit by 2017.
( Source : AP )
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