Malaysia Airlines Confirms Its Sluggish Plight; Atleast 6,000 Jobs At Stake

The newly appointed chief executive of Malaysia Airlines reportedly announced on Monday that the airline is "technically bankrupt", and hence it plans to restructure by reducing its workforce to a third, terminating around 6,000 employees.

The plan was released on Monday via email, said the airline would operate under a new brand starting September 1, 2015. Meanwhile, approximately 14,000 chosen ones among the existing 20,000 employees are expected to receive offer letters to stay with the restructured operation.

The announcement is the first solid initiative by the airline's new CEO Christoph Mueller as he works towards repairing its lost reputation after it suffered two back to back tragedies in just five months apart.

In March 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 went missing with all 239 passengers and crew aboard and its unexplained disappearance still doesn’t have a solid answer. Four months later, a suspected ground-to-air missile shot down flight MH17 over Ukraine, killing everyone on board.

Mr. Mueller was hired last month by the company’s owner, Malaysian state fund Khazanah, to initiate and lead a restructuring of the brand.

The airline will review some of its long-haul unprofitable routes, notably the to Europe, and will concentrate on regional traffic as it regroups. The airlines overall passenger count has dropped to 0.3 percent year on year, while its revenue fell by 5 percent between April and June as opposed to 9 percent in the corresponding period in 2013.

Though Mr. Mueller emphasised on going “technically bankrupt” he said, “the decline of performance started long before the tragic events of 2014," speaking at a news conference.

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