Backgrounder: Malaysia Airlines -- one of Asia's leading carrier

A multilateral search and rescue effort on Monday still failed to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board, more than two days after its disappearance en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.[Special coverage: Searching for missing MH370]

Malaysia Airlines was formed in October 1937 as Malayan Airways Ltd and made its maiden commercial flight in April 1947.

As the flag carrier of Malaysia, it operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and with a secondary hub in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

Malaysia Airlines is reputed to be one of Asia's best carrier granted with more than 100 awards in the past 10 years, including top honors from Skytrax UK and the World Travel Awards.

It now flies to 87 destinations across six continents with a particularly strong presence in the Southeast Asia region.

Last year, Malaysia Airlines joined the Oneworld airline alliance, one of the three largest airline alliances, linking it to 850 destinations in 150 countries across the group's network.

The airlines reportedly have 88 aircraft in its fleet, including Airbus A330s and A380s and Boeing 777-200s and 737s.

Its fleet of 777-200ERs has an average age of 14.2 years, one of the oldest such fleets of 777-200s globally, according to online reports.

However, the Malaysia's flag carrier has been mired in a protracted financial crisis.

The airline announced earlier this year that it posted a net loss of 1.17 billion ringgit (359 million US dollars) in 2013 due to fierce competition, rocketing fuel prices and volatile foreign exchange rates.

The amount was almost three times more than the losses in 2012 when it kick-started an aggressive cost-cutting campaign.

Despite acute financial problems, the airlines still set up a record as one of the Asia-Pacific's best full-service carriers in terms of safety and service.

The most deadly crash to date involving a Malaysian aircraft took place in 1977 in which a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-200 was hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang in Johor state, killing all 100 people on board.

On Sept 15, 1995, a Malaysia Airlines Fokker 50 crashed on approach to Tawau, a town in the Eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, resulting in 34 deaths.