Malaysia Airlines to cut 6,000 staff after disasters

Malaysia Airlines is to cut 6,000 staff as part of recovery plan after being hit by two disasters this year, the BBC reported.

The reduction in staff numbers represents around 30% of its workforce of 20,000.

The airline will become completely state owned, and a new chief executive will eventually be put in place.

Investigators continue to hunt for flight MH370, the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight which went missing in March.

The MH17 air crash in eastern Ukraine is also under investigation. The plane was shot down on 17 July, with the loss of all 298 people on board.

The recovery plan will cost about 6 billion Malaysian ringgit (£1.1bn, $1.9bn).

Khazanah Nasional, the state investment company that owns a 69% stake in the troubled firm, will take 100% ownership.

"The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived," said Khazanah's managing director Azman Mokhtar.

"Success is by no means guaranteed - while it is imperative that MAS [Malaysia Airlines] as a critical enabler in national development is revived, public accountability for the use of the funds mean that it cannot be renewed at any cost," he added.