The Malaysian Airline Systems quarterly performance has slumped by 59 percent in the first quarter following the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370.

The quarterly performance of the airline provider has been uncertain following the decrease in the number of flight traffic, as well as possible costs linked to the disappearance of one of its flights. Even analysts say that they cannot issue the estimates for January to March despite years of struggling to compete with a number of international and local rivals and high aviation industry costs.

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The company has reported a net loss of MYR343 million in the last quarter of 2013. The first quarter figures were released after the close of trading on the Malaysian bourse on Tuesday, showing that MAS has plunged by 59 percent to MYR443 million. The loss was higher compared to the MYR278.8 million from last year’s quarter ending in March.

Last year, the company has incurred a hefty loss of MYR1.17 billion which is about three times bigger than the company’s 2012 losses of MYR4433 million. Meanwhile, the company’s revenue was up by 1.7 percent to MYR3.6 billion.

The company also said that air ticket sales in China lowered by 60 percent in March. It also added that the number of flight cancellations in Beijing has increased with long-haul travel declining. The company has also been confronted with high fuel prices.

The controversy that Malaysia Airlines has been confronted with over the disappearance of flight MH370 has placed the company in a very difficult financial position. Furthermore, the incident where 239 passengers went missing with the aircraft will ruin the chance of the company to jump back to its intended profit this year.

On Thursday, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammudin Husein said that the government has no plans to provide any monetary assistance to bail out the airline company.

TagsMalaysia Airlines, mh370, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammudin Husein, Malaysian Airline Systems