Malaysia Airlines has been placed in administration and will unveil restructuring and rebranding plans next week.
The national carrier, which will become a new company, will now lay off a third of its 20,000 employees.
It will also cut seat capacity and review its fleet and routes, and may even change its name and livery.
Christoph Mueller, MAS' new chief executive, who took over on May 1, said: "I assure you our operations are very much business as usual. All MAS flights, schedules, and reservations continue to operate as normal."
Earlier this month, the airline confirmed its twice daily A380 service between Kuala Lumpur and London Heathrow is unlikely to be affected by cutbacks (see news, May 12).
And, the airline recently announced its new business plan will see some long-haul routes dropped and many of its long-haul planes, especially its A380s and B777-200ERs, be leased or sold (see news, May 5).
MAS was hit by two tragedies last year – the disappearance of flight MH370 in March 2014 and the tragic shootdown of MH17 over Ukraine (see news, July 17).
Graham Smith
