Malaysia Airlines timeline: Humble beginnings to double disasters

Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional, Berhad Azman Mokthar speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. (AP / Lai Seng Sin)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Key dates in the history of Malaysia Airlines from its start as a one route airline until its almost unfathomable double passenger jet disasters in 2014.

1937 -- Malayan Airways Ltd., the forerunner of Malaysia Airlines, is formed to provide flights between Penang in Malaya and Singapore, both part of the British empire at the time.

1963 -- A now independent Malaysia absorbs neighbouring British colonies and the national carrier becomes Malaysian Airlines Ltd.

1972 -- The carrier is renamed Malaysian Airline System and later branded as Malaysia Airlines.

2012 -- Wins "World's Best Crew" award from airline rating firm Skytrax, the 7th time it has claimed that industry accolade since 2001.

2013 -- Losing ground to budget airline rivals, losses at Malaysia Airlines balloon to 1.17 billion ringgit ($363 million), nearly three times larger than its 433 million ringgit loss in 2012.

March 8, 2014 -- Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 severs contact with air traffic control en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and veers far of course with 239 people on board; searchers have still not located the plane which is believed to have crashed into the southern Atlantic Ocean.

March 10 -- Shares of Malaysia Airlines plunge 20 per cent when stock market trading opens on the Monday after Flight 370 vanished.

May 29 -- The Malaysia Airlines union calls for the resignation of CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, saying new management is needed to revive the beleaguered flag carrier.

June 25 -- CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya says the airline's business is seeing a "significant recovery" from the Flight 370 tragedy but must undergo radical changes to survive.

July 17 -- Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is blasted out of the sky over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels, killing all 298 people on board.

July 18 -- Malaysia Airlines shares drop 14 per cent. Analysts estimate the airline is losing $1.6 million a day and won't survive a year without a bailout.

Early Aug -- Malaysia Airlines says passengers dropped 11 per cent in July compared with a year earlier.

Aug 29 -- Malaysia's state investment fund, which owns 69 per cent of Malaysia Airlines, says 30 per cent of the airline's 20,000 staff will be cut as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul to return the airline to profit by 2017.