MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Malaysia Airlines has announced plans to dismiss more than 6,000 employees and change chief executives in an attempt to save company from bankruptcy, Azman Mohtar, head of Malaysian state investment fund Khazanah Nasional, which has taken control of the airline, told reporters.
“The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived," Mohtar said.
"Recent tragic events and ongoing difficulties at MAS [Malaysia Airlines] have created a perfect storm that is allowing this restructuring to take place," Mohtar said.
Malaysia Airlines has been struggling to maintain its clients’ trust after two fatal incidents with its planes happened this year.
Average flight tickets bookings fell by a third, with numerous flights being cancelled.
Earlier this week, the airline reported a loss of $97 million in the second quarter.
In March, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished over the Indian Ocean.
On July 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine near the city of Donetsk. All 298 people on board died, including 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
The cause of the crash is still not clear, with the Ukrainian government saying that independence supporters in the country’s eastern regions shot the plane down, while the latter deny any involvement.
The investigation into the crash has been hindered by the conflict in the region.
