KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Malaysia Airlines has refuted a claim by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that it decreased its crew numbers per flight as a cost-saving measure, The Star reported today.

The airline said it met all guidelines and safety measures of international standards and added that it operated as "one of the highest ratio in the world of crew per passenger”.

"The most common ratio of Airbus A330-300 flight operating in Malaysia from other airlines is 42 or 47 customers per crew members,” it said, adding that it carried a ratio of 29 passengers per crew.

Malaysia Airlines pointed that there were also no changes made for its Airbus A380 carriers.

The comments by the airline comes after NIOSH chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye yesterday said the company had adopted cost-cutting measures, which among others reduced the number of flight attendants.

Lee said Malaysia Airlines should review this move after a bomb threat forced Flight MH128 to turn back to Melbourne two nights ago.

He particularly said that he noticed crew on board the Boeing 737 reduced to four from six.

Commenting on this, Malaysia Airlines said its Boeing 737, a smaller aircraft, had never operated with six crew members.

Instead, it said a crew of four was the "norm” for a flight with 97 per cent passenger capacity.

A 25-year-old Sri Lankan man, had caused a ruckus on board MH128 after he tried to invade the cockpit with claiming to possess an "explosive device”.

He was said to have been drunk during the flight en route to Kuala Lumpur.

It was also reported that the man had just been released from psychiatric care prior to boarding the aircraft.

The man’s claim to possess an explosive device, which was later determined to be a battery pack, triggered a security lockdown of Melbourne Airport that forced flights to be rerouted elsewhere.