Jakarta Globe - AFP, Jul 20, 2014
Bystanders look at a board displaying flight information and a ‘Pray for MH17’” message at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on July 18, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su) |
Kuala
Lumpur. Malaysia Airlines said on Sunday that it would retire flight code MH17
as a “mark of respect” for the 298 people killed in a jet crash in
violence-wracked eastern Ukraine.
The daily
Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur service will instead take on the code MH19 from July 25.
“In light
of the recent incident, Malaysia Airlines’ Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur service, MH17
flight number will be retired out of respect for our crew and passengers,” the
national flag carrier said in a statement.
“There are
no changes to the frequency of our services, and we will continue to operate
daily services between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur,” the airline added. “Our
thoughts and prayers remains with the families of our colleagues and passengers
of MH17.”
Flight MH17
from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur is believed to have been shot out of the sky by
a surface-to-air missile, crashing in rebel-held eastern Ukraine Thursday with
298 people on board.
The flight
code retirement is the second the airline has had to do in four months.
It retired
flight codes MH370 and MH371 in the aftermath of the March 8 disappearance of
Kuala-Lumpur-Beijing flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew on board.
No trace of
the MH370 plane has been found, a mystery that has severely damaged Malaysia’s
image abroad and left furious relatives of passengers deeply anguished and
demanding answers.
Agence
France-Presse
Related Articles:
Haunting: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, Reg 9M-MRD, made 1st flight on 7-17-97. It met its end 17 years later, to the day -aviation official
— C.J. Chivers (@cjchivers) July 17, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment