Pesawat Malaysia Airlines MH17 lepas landas dari Bandara Schiphol Belanda, 17 Juli 2014. Fred Neeleman/AFP/Getty Images
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Two tragedies struck Malaysia Airlines in five months after the MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine killing hundreds of people onboard. The recent tragedy has been added to the list of questions of how the company would survive. In the first quarter of this year, Malaysia Airlines was reported to suffer a US$139-million loss.
Quartz reported that the airline lost US$359 million last year and consequently had negative balances in the next five quarters. The company was seen to have failed in its strategy making air travel cheaper. The negative sentiment would not only have negative impacts on Malaysia Airlines, but also on other cheap airlines.
"MH370 exacerbated an already tough situation and makes it even more challenging for [Malaysian airlines] to turn around without major changes," airline analyst CAPA said in May, as reported by Quartz.
The two tragedies also serve as warnings for the Malaysian government since 69 percent of the airline stocks are owned by the government through Khazanah Nasional. Many investors and former government officials had been dumping its stocks, even before the two accidents.
