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Founded | 1 May 1947 (as Malayan Airways) | ||||||
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Commenced operations |
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Hubs | Kuala Lumpur International Airport | ||||||
Secondary hubs | Kota Kinabalu International Airport | ||||||
Focus cities | Kuching International Airport | ||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Enrich | ||||||
Alliance | Oneworld[1] | ||||||
Subsidiaries | |||||||
Fleet size | 78[citation needed] | ||||||
Destinations | 67[citation needed] | ||||||
Parent company | Khazanah Nasional Berhad[2][3] | ||||||
Headquarters | Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia | ||||||
Key people |
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Profit | RM1.099 billion (2023)[4] | ||||||
Employees | 12,000[5] | ||||||
Website | www |
Malaysia Airlines (Malay: Penerbangan Malaysia) is the flag carrier of Malaysia, headquartered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The airline flies to destinations across Europe, Oceania and Asia from its main hub at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It was formerly known as Malaysian Airline System (Malay: Sistem Penerbangan Malaysia).
Malaysia Airlines is a part of Malaysia Aviation Group, which also owns two subsidiary airlines: Firefly and MASwings. Malaysia Airlines also owns a freighter division: MASkargo and the religious charter subsidiary, Amal.
Malaysia Airlines traces its history to Malayan Airways Limited, which was founded in Singapore in the 1930s and flew its first commercial flight in 1947. It was then renamed as Malaysian Airways after the formation of the independent country, Malaysia, in 1963. In 1966, after the separation of Singapore, the airline was renamed Malaysia–Singapore Airlines (MSA), before its assets were divided in 1972 to permanently form two separate and distinct national airlines—Malaysian Airline System (MAS, since renamed as Malaysia Airlines) and Singapore Airlines (SIA).[6]
Despite numerous awards from the aviation industry in the 2000s and early 2010s,[7][6] the airline struggled to cut costs to cope with the rise of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in the region since the early 2000s.[8] In 2013, the airline initiated a turnaround plan after large losses beginning in 2011 and cut routes to unprofitable long-haul destinations, such as Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and South Africa.[9] That same year, Malaysia Airlines also began an internal restructuring and intended to sell units such as engineering and pilot training.[9] From 2014 to 2015, the airline declared bankruptcy and was renationalised by the government under a new entity, which involved transferring all operations, including assets and liabilities as well as downsizing the airline.[10][11]