Malaysia Airlines announces plans to lay off a third of its workers

Malaysia Airlines' new CEO told Reuters that the struggling company will cut nearly a third of its 20,000 employees this week, part of an ongoing brand overhaul.

"I'm hired to run the new company entirely on commercial terms, and there's very little margin for error,” Christoph Mueller said. "It depends on the vigor in which we pursue the cost reduction."

In March 2014, flight MH370 disappeared with its 239 passengers and crew; just four months later, another Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard the flight. Following a $1.66 billion restructuring in which the company was taken private by Malaysian state investor Khazanah in 2014, Reuters reports that Malaysia Airlines will debut a new name — Malaysia Airlines Bhd — along with a new brand, fewer planes and fewer employees, by September.

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