Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines is the flag carrier of Malaysia, primarily operating from Kuala Lumpur International Airport with a network of destinations across Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Established as Malayan Airways Limited in 1937, the airline evolved through various phases, including a significant expansion in the 1980s. However, it faced severe financial difficulties in the 2000s, exacerbated by increased competition and two tragic plane crashes in 2014: the disappearance of Flight 370 in the Indian Ocean and the downing of Flight 17 over Ukraine, which collectively resulted in the loss of 537 lives. These incidents severely impacted the airline's reputation and operations.
In 2015, in response to these challenges, Malaysia Airlines underwent a major restructuring, rebranding itself as Malaysian Airlines Berhad and significantly downsizing its workforce. The airline has since focused on stabilizing its finances and reputation, achieving a net profit in 2023 for the first time in several years, largely due to increased passenger numbers post-COVID-19 lockdowns. Moving forward, Malaysia Airlines aims to enhance its services and expand its fleet to ensure long-term growth and success in the competitive aviation industry.
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines is a major airline operating out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the flag carrier of Malaysia. The airline has destinations throughout Asia and in Europe and Oceania. In the 2000s, Malaysia Airlines struggled financially because of increased competition, unprofitable destinations, and bad publicity from two fatal plane crashes in 2014. The first was Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which authorities believe crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 persons on board. The second was Malaysia Flight 17, which was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian-made missile. In 2015, Malaysia Airlines restructured and changed its official name from Malaysian Airline System Berhad (MAS) to Malaysian Airlines Berhad (MAB), hired new management, and significantly cut its workforce. From that point, it worked to turn its financial and reputational issues around into the 2020s.
History of Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines began as a joint venture between Singapore's Straits Steamship Company and two British companies (the Ocean Steamship Company and Imperial Airways). The company was called Malayan Airways Limited (MAL) and received approval to begin operating in 1937—but this proved to be no easy feat. MAL did not begin flying planes until 1947, years after the Japanese occupation of Singapore and Malaysia ended during World War II. At first, MAL provided air service between Penang, Malaysia, and Singapore, but the company quickly grew to become an international carrier.
In 1963, the Federation of Malaysia was formed. According to the agreement, Malaya, Singapore, and some colonies now formed a single country. Malayan Airways became Malaysian Airways and purchased additional aircraft. Malaysian Airways was controlled by two intercontinental carriers: BOAC and Qantas.
In 1966, Singapore seceded from Malaysia and once again became a state. Singapore and Malaysia together bought a controlling stake in the airline and renamed it Malaysia-Singapore Airlines Ltd (MSA). The company bought its first Boeing aircrafts and had more than two thousand employees.
Six years later, both Malaysia and Singapore decided to operate their own airlines. The split benefited Singapore much more than Malaysia. The new Singapore Airlines claimed the fleet of Boeing 707s and 737s as well as MSA's former headquarters in Singapore. Singapore became an international airline while Malaysian Airline Systems Berhad (MAS), better-known as Malaysia Airlines, focused on domestic routes within the country. It was not until the 1980s that MAS set its sights on growth and overseas destinations. Within the next ten years, it added destinations in the United States and Australia.
Not all of Malaysia Airlines' expansions were profitable. During the 1990s, it cut flights and sold some of its fleet. In the early 2000s, the airline struggled to compete with new, low-cost carriers in the region. Because of financial losses, it cut long-haul destinations such as those in the United States and South Africa. However, despite the airlines' financial struggles, it garnered prestigious awards, such as "Travel Merchant of the Year" in 2011, and was voted Asia's Leading Airline at the World Travel Awards (WTA) in 2013.
Fatal Crashes
In 2014, two fatal Malaysia Airlines crashes less than five months apart resulted in the loss of 537 passengers and crew members. The first, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, an enormous Boeing 777, took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport early in the morning on March 8. The flight, which was headed to Beijing, had 239 people on board. Malaysian air traffic controllers radioed the plane at 1:19 a.m. as it flew over the South China Sea. Controllers asked the crew to contact Ho Chi Minh City before it flew through Vietnamese airspace. The crew of Flight 370 agreed to do so. This was the last contact controllers had with the plane. Later calls made to the cockpit were unanswered. The plane seemed to have vanished somewhere over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam. Strangely, the plane's transponder was turned off, so controllers could not track its location. Based on Malaysian military radar, authorities believe Flight 370 made a sharp turn westward and then deviated from its scheduled flight path and crossed the Malay Peninsula. At 2:22 a.m., it left the range of the military radar as it flew over the Andaman Sea. After analyzing satellite data, authorities concluded that the plane flew about five more hours, possibly on autopilot, and flew into the Indian Ocean.
A multinational air and water search effort of the Indian Ocean and the surrounding areas resulted in no trace of Flight 370. However, on July 29, 2015, a piece of plane debris was found floating in the water near Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The debris was later identified as a flaperon, a wing part, of Flight 370. While the flaperon was found about 3,800 miles from the last known location of the plane, authorities believe that it may have drifted there from the crash site.
Another Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board. After a fifteen-month investigation, the Dutch Safety Board concluded that Flight 17 was struck by a Russian-made missile as it flew over eastern Ukraine. The board criticized the Ukrainian government for not closing the airspace over the area where an armed conflict was taking place.
Prior to the 2014 disasters, Malaysia Airlines had one of the world's best safety records. It had only two fatal accidents in sixty-eight years: the first in 1977 when one of its planes was hijacked and crashed, killing 100 people on board, and the second in 1995 when a domestic flight crashed due to pilot error, claiming 34 lives.
Though further pieces of discovered debris on nearby islands were potentially linked to Flight 370, definitive evidence remained lacking, and an Australian-led search effort concluded in 2017 without finding the plane. The following year, a search undertaken by a commissioned private company also proved unsuccessful. On the anniversary of the plane's disappearance in 2024, many family members of victims of the crash renewed pleas for further search efforts as the cause of the incident remained unsolved. The Malaysian government indicated that it would support any credible new operation to find the plane.
Rebuilding
After restructuring efforts included the formation of a new parent company, Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), in 2016, both MAG and Malaysia Airlines continued implementing various strategies to make the carrier financially stable and successful once more. Though the airline subsequently experienced multiple changes in leadership that largely impeded progress, in 2024 Izham Ismail, the executive director of Malaysia Airlines and the group managing director of MAG, announced that the company had earned a net profit for the first time in several years in 2023. He attributed this achievement to a variety of factors, including increased passenger numbers following COVID-19 lockdowns. Plans to maintain momentum focused, in part, on investing in improvements such as fleet size.
Bibliography
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