Malaysia Airlines (Malay: Penerbangan Malaysia; MYX:3786 as Malaysian Airline System Berhad) is a

major airline operating flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and from secondary hubs in Kota
Kinabalu and Kuching to destinations throughout Asia, Oceania and Europe. Malaysia Airlines is the flag
carrier of Malaysia and a member of the one world airline alliance. The company's headquarters are
located at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. In August 2014, the Malaysian government's sovereign
wealth fund Khazanah Nasionalwhich then owned 69.37% of the airlineannounced its intention to
purchase remaining ownership from minority shareholders and de-list the airline from Malaysia's stock
exchange, thereby renationalizing the airline.
Malaysia Airlines owns two subsidiary airlines: Firefly and MASwings. Firefly operates scheduled flights
from its two home bases Penang International Airport and Subang International Airport. The airline
focuses on tertiary cities. MASwings focuses on inter-Borneo flights. Malaysia Airlines has a freighter
fleet operated by MASkargo, which manages freighter flights and aircraft cargo-hold capacity for all
Malaysia Airlines' passenger flights.
The airline began as Malayan Airways Limited and flew its first commercial flight in 1947. Malayan
Airways was headquartered in Singapore. A few years after Singapore's independence, the airline's assets
were divided in 1972 to form Singaporean flag carrier Singapore Airlines and Malaysian flag
carrier Malaysian Airline System.
Despite numerous awards from aviation industry and recognition from the World Travel Awards as the
leading airline in and to Asia (201011, 2013) the airline struggled to cut costs to compete with new, lowcost carriers in the region since the early 2000s. In 2013, the airline initiated a turnaround plan after large
losses beginning in 2011 and cut routes to prominent, but unprofitable, long-haul destinations, such as the
Americas (Los Angeles and Buenos Aires) and South Africa. Malaysia Airlines also began an internal
restructuring and intended to sell units such as engineering and pilot training.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines lost two aircraftFlight 370 and Flight 17less than five months apart,
exacerbating the airline's financial troubles and leading to the renationalization of the airline. Prior to
2014, MAS had one of the world's best safety recordsjust two fatal accidents in 68 years of operation,
including the hijacking in 1977 of Flight 653 that resulted in 100 deaths.