THERE are two things you can be sure of when you fly Malaysia Airlines.

You won’t have to queue up at the check-in and you’re guaranteed to get a seat to yourself.

After being hit by two deadly tragedies in one year, Malaysia Airlines flights are now like flying ghost towns deserted by frightened travellers and cabin crew.

This picture of a near-empty plane, which went viral on social media, appears to illustrate just how hard Malaysia Airlines has been hit by the downing of flight MH17 and the disappearance of flight MH370.

Picture sent to me of a Malaysia Airlines flight out of Australia today to Asia | pic.twitter.com/3nrsdKIBmg — Ricardo Goncalves (@BUSINESSricardo) August 15, 2014

It’s not just travellers staying away, either. The airline said on Tuesday that 186 crew had left in the first seven months of this year, with many blaming family pressure prompted by the tragedies.

“Following the MH17 incident, there was a spike in crew resignations but the number has now decreased to acceptable and routinely expected levels,” it said in a statement.

“Many cited ‘family pressure’ as the reason for their resignation due to the MH17 and MH370 tragedies.”

Abdul Malek Ariff, secretary-general of the employees union, said some “are now are afraid to fly”.

Abdul Malek, quoted by the Edge Financial daily on Monday, also said crew shortages were forcing staff to work up to 12 hours a day.

Empty waiting hall for #MalaysiaAirlines flight from Dubai to KL. Only found a few people checking in too. pic.twitter.com/3blBKpblrG — Ramy (@ThisIsRamy) July 18, 2014

The union represents about 8000 of Malaysia Airlines’ 19,500-strong workforce.

The carrier said it was providing emotional and psychological support to its staff.

The two aviation tragedies combined killed 537 people including 27 crew members.

Flight MH370 disappeared mysteriously in March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace has been found despite an intensive search in the southern Indian Ocean.

The airline was widely criticised for its handling of the crisis.

On July 17, MH17 was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine, with another 298 people on board.

The importance of brand trust & values. Malaysia Airlines queue for check in empty 1.5hrs before the flight to KL pic.twitter.com/9MStJ66YeW — Ruslan Kogan (@ruslankogan) March 10, 2014

The ailing airline is in the midst of being taken private by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional as part of an expected major overhaul.

Khazanah is expected this week to announce a series of restructuring measures including job cuts and the axing of unprofitable international routes.

The carrier has struggled amid intense competition, losing $US1.3 billion ($A1.41 billion) over the past three years even before the two disasters.

For this year’s first quarter the airline posted a net loss of 443 million ringgit ($A148.23 million) citing MH370’s impact on bookings.

It was the fifth straight quarterly loss.

Originally published as Flying empty: Crew desert airline