MH17 crash may cripple crisis-hit Malaysia Airlines
July 18, 2014  15:54
Shares in struggling Malaysia Airlines sank today after one of its jets crashed in Ukraine, dealing it a blow just months after the loss of Flight MH370, with analysts warning of the firm's collapse without government help.

All 298 people aboard MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur died yesterday when it came down in violence-wracked eastern Ukraine, with the United States saying it was hit by a surface-to-air missile.

Some industry experts say the incident was beyond the airline's control and while its reputation will be further tarnished, the effect could be limited if it avoided the mistakes made in the MH370 case.

But others warn that even if yesterday's tragedy is proved to have been caused by outside forces it faces an uphill fight to regain passenger confidence.

The flag carrier was already in financial trouble when MH370 disappeared in March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The plane has yet to be found despite an extensive international search. "MH370 sent shivers down people's spines, but most people realised it was an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence, so bookings recovered," Gerry Soejatman, a consultant with the Jakarta-based Whitesky Aviation chartered flight provider, told AFP.

"MH17 is like lightning striking twice. The effects on bookings will be bigger," he said.

Crucially, two-thirds of passengers on MH370 were from China, its key market, and the firm said sales in the country dived 60 percent after the disappearance.

News of a second tragedy could prove to be a hammer blow to its chances in China, a country where a brand's link to anything to do with death can be extremely damaging.
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