Malaysia Airlines becomes “technically bankrupt”, 6000 workers to be handed pink slips

By NewsGram Staff Writer

After suffering two major air disasters and being unable to cope with competition, Malaysia Airlines has become technically bankrupt.

The announcement was made by the company's Chief Executive, Christoph Mueller, who in his first public appearance since being hired in May, said that around 6000 jobs would be lost due to the bankruptcy.

Speaking at a press conference, Mueller said, "We are technically bankrupt. The decline of performance started long before the tragic events of 2014."

Mueller's decision to shrink the airline's workforce to 14,000 is not the first time that he has cut airline jobs.His restructuring work in Ireland's Aer Lingus, Belgium's Sabena and Germany's Lufthansa has earned him the nickname, "The Terminator".

Apart from regional competition that had eaten-into Malaysia Airline's earnings, two air disasters last year, contributed to further losses.

In July, flight MH17 was shot down by a suspected ground-to-air missile over Ukraine, taking 298 lives. The investigation report is expected to be tabled by mid-2015.

Another Malaysian Airline air-plane, MH 370, with 239 passengers on board had disappeared on its way to Kuala Lampur from Beijing in May. The search for the missing airplane has already cost more than 26 million pounds but has yielded little result.