Malaysia Airlines – A short history

Tragedy has struck Malaysia Airlines in a matter of couple of months. Whereas MH370 went missing couple of months back, on Thursday MH17 crashed on the eastern border of Ukraine.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Tragedy has struck Malaysia Airlines in a matter of couple of months. Whereas MH370 went missing couple of months back and has not been traced as yet, on Thursday MH17 crashed on the eastern border of Ukraine with 295 people on board. Here is a brief history of the national carrier of Malaysia -

Malaysian Airline is the flag carrier airline of Malaysia. It operates from the the nation`s capital Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It has a secondary hub in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

The airline began as Malayan Airways in 1947 and was renamed Malaysian Airways after Malaysia got independence. Later the name was changed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines. It ceased operations in 1972 followed by the birth of two airlines - Malaysian Airline System (MAS) and Singapore Airlines.

The headquarters of the airline is in Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor, in Greater Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian Airlines is a member of the oneworld airline alliance.

The airline operates its flights in Southeast Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Middle East and on the route between Europe and Australasia.

The airlines has two airline subsidiaries - Firefly and MASwings.

The growth of Malaysian Airlines was spurred by an economic boom in Malaysia during the 1980s.

It is said to be the first airline in Southeast Asia to serve South America via its flights to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It has at times been criticised for being behind other competitors in the region like Thai Airways or Singapore Airlines and not making investments in customer service.

On 22 December 2009, the airlines announced the purchase of 15 new Airbus A330 aircraft which was expected to be delivered between 2011 and 2016.

Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines, reported a net profit of RM51.4mil for the fourth quarter on 28 February 2013, reversing the net loss of RM1.3bil a year earlier.

On March 08, Malaysian Airlines flight 370 vanished without a distress signal. The debris is yet to be found despite a massive hunt.

The stock of the company is said to have come down as much as 20% following the disappearance of Flight 370. Complied from Wikipedia