Malaysia Airlines To Rebrand?

1st Aug 2014

​The state flag carrier is still in the state of mourning over the loss of hundreds of lives, including its own crew who perished in two successive incidents.

On March 8, flight MH370 was flying over the Gulf of Thailand from Kuala Lumpur on its way to Beijing when ground control lost contact with the aircraft. A massive search and rescue operation ensued, involving more than two dozen international teams from 26 countries, making it the world's largest and most expensive in history. The wreck of the ill-fated aircraft, along with the 239 people on board, was never found since then.

And then, last July 17, or over a week ago, flight MH17 was cruising 33,000 feet over the Ukrainian air space when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile causing a massive explosion midair sending an equally massive ball of fire that plummeted to the earth. The plane was carrying a total of 298 people on board, including the 12 crew members, on a return flight to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

These two incidents that caused the death of more than 500 people in a span of less than 5 months is too much to handle for a struggling airline which is already buried in debt.
The state-owned airline is now weighing options to rebrand and restructure, in order to bail itself out from losses and indebtedness. These include name change or rebranding, route reform, outsourcing expansion, and even looking for private investors.

It has been officially confirmed by no less than International Air Transport Association director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, that the MH17 deadly incident was caused by a missile, therefore a crime which is a clear violation of international laws, standards, and conventions against humanities.

In the wake of the most recent tragedy, the Malaysian government is already deploying its team to Amsterdam to assist the grieving families of the victims. The airline is appealing to the warring parties to call a ceasefire and allow retrieval operations to proceed unhindered, so that the victims' remains can be repatriated back quickly to their home countries.

The airline is also working closely with the Australian and New Zealand governments by sending a team each to help the identification of the bodies of their own citizens who were among the casualties.