MH-370 Disappearance Slowed Traffic At Malaysia Airlines And Company Reviewing Expansion Plans

Still reeling from its Flight 370 disaster, Malaysia Airlines on Wednesday said it's reviewing plans for future airplane purchases and it may modify its orders.

According to an article published by Bloomberg News, Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said on Wednesday near Kuala Lumpur: “The fleet plan is under review. The existing order is not impacted, only the future.”

According to the report, the airline was mulling buying up to 100 new jets, various models from different makers, but that traffic has fallen dramatically since the disappearance of Flight 370, which went missing on March 8 over the Indian Ocean with 239 passengers and crew onboard. The plane has never been found.

Analysts are clearly concerned whether the airline can survive the incident amid heavy criticism surrounding the airline's actions during the search for the plane.

“The way things are going, you can’t think of expansion, you have to think about survival,” Mohshin Aziz, an analyst at Malayan Banking Bhd., told Bloomberg. “To get themselves out of the current situation, perhaps they should shrink in size rather than grow. Discontinue services to Europe and North Asia, just focus on the shorter-haul, medium-haul routes where they are doing fairly alright,” Aziz added.