In the wake of two devastating crashes which has seen passengers desert the airline despite huge price cuts, Malaysia Airlines is to slash its workforce by 30%, and de-list from the stock market by the end of the year.

The route network will also be cut back as the firm aims to return to profitability by 2017. The target is to return to the stock market by 2019.

A 1.4 billion euro restructuring plan will also try to make success out of failure by imposing long-overdue efficiency and global standards on the carrier.

The job losses are bigger than expected, but majority shareholder Khazanah Nasional, a state fund, says it will “reskill” workers to soften the blow.