Malaysia Airlines 'technically bankrupt' - CEO
The newly-appointed CEO of Malaysia Airlines, Christoph Mueller has announced the company is “technically bankrupt.” Mueller also confirmed plans to cut 6,000 jobs and transfer 14,000 workers out of a total of 20,000 to new positions.
Malaysia Airlines is "technically bankrupt" says new German CEO. #MalaysiaAirlines#MAS
— Satish Cheney (@SatishCheney) June 1, 2015
The mass layoffs come as the company looks to present a rebranding program in September and have been introduced by Mueller, who was appointed as the airline’s CEO in May.
READ MORE: Malaysia Airlines to fire one third of its staff in major restructuring
The company's immediate priority is to "stop the bleeding" in 2015, according to the CEO. Mueller added that along with layoffs the company is to "rationalize route systems," which will likely lead to a reduction in costly routes to Europe and greater focus on regional ones.
The company hopes to stabilize in 2016 and wants to start growing by 2017.
Malaysia Airlines has been in debt for several years, Mueller said in a statement Monday, while also mentioning that the company’s problems started before last year’s twin tragedies.
READ MORE: Malaysia Airlines wants to rebrand, considering name change
"The decline of performance started long before the tragic events of 2014," the airline’s CEO said, according to Reuters.
The company was hit by the tragic loss of two planes last year.
In March 2014, flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people onboard, while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane has yet to be found.
Four months later, flight MH17 was downed in a suspected ground-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine, which killed 298 people. It is still not known who carried out the attack, where Ukrainian government forces were fighting against local militias.
