From World's Best Crew to double disasters in 2014: Brief timeline of Malaysia Airlines

Kuala Lumpur: Key dates in the history of Malaysia Airlines from its start as a one route airline until its almost unfathomable double passenger jet disasters in 2014.

1937 - Malayan Airways Ltd., the forerunner of Malaysia Airlines, is formed to provide flights between Penang in Malaya and Singapore, both part of the British empire at the time.

1963 - A now independent Malaysia absorbs neighboring British colonies and the national carrier becomes Malaysian Airlines Ltd.

1972 - The carrier is renamed Malaysian Airline System and later branded as Malaysia Airlines.

[caption id=“attachment_93110” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption]

2012 - Wins “World’s Best Crew” award from airline rating firm Skytrax, the 7th time it has claimed that industry accolade since 2001.

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2013 - Losing ground to budget airline rivals, losses at Malaysia Airlines balloon to 1.17 billion ringgit ($363 million), nearly three times larger than its 433 million ringgit loss in 2012.

March 8, 2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 severs contact with air traffic control en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and veers far of course with 239 people on board; searchers have still not located the plane which is believed to have crashed into the southern Atlantic Ocean.

March 10 - Shares of Malaysia Airlines plunge 20 percent when stock market trading opens on the Monday after Flight 370 vanished.

May 29 - The Malaysia Airlines union calls for the resignation of CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, saying new management is needed to revive the beleaguered flag carrier.

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June 25 - CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya says the airline’s business is seeing a “significant recovery” from the Flight 370 tragedy but must undergo radical changes to survive.

July 17 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is blasted out of the sky over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels, killing all 298 people on board.

July 18 - Malaysia Airlines shares drop 14 percent. Analysts estimate the airline is losing $1.6 million a day and won’t survive a year without a bailout.

Early Aug - Malaysia Airlines says passengers dropped 11 percent in July compared with a year earlier.

Aug 29 - Malaysia’s state investment fund, which owns 69 percent of Malaysia Airlines, says 30 percent of the airline’s 20,000 staff will be cut as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul to return the airline to profit by 2017.

AP