Beleaguered Malaysia Airlines will seek to avoid economic collapse with a government takeover of the carrier, brought on by the twin tragedies this year of the disappearance of Flight MH370 and the shoot down of MH17 over Ukraine.
Even before it faced unthinkable crises involving two of its Boeing 777s the airline struggled to turn a profit. The Malaysian government already owns 70 percent of the company and will buy out the remaining shares from private investors. It has poured more than $1.5 billion into the carrier in the last decade.
The crash that killed 298 over Ukraine last month when Flight 17 was shot down and the still-unsolved disappearance of Flight 370 with 239 on board have dealt seemingly insurmountable woes to the carrier. The Malaysian government said it plans to restructure the company, which could include layoffs of some of the airline’s 20,000 employees and the firings of senior management.
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