KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The head of Emirates Airlines has suggested that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) consider rebranding itself to shrug off the “stigma” attached to its label with two air disasters under its belt this year.

Sir Tim Clark told German magazine Der Spiegel this week that it will be “extraordinarily difficult” for MAS to move forward after losing two of its planes — the first under highly mysterious circumstances and the second, shot down over Ukraine.

“It will be very difficult for Malaysia Airlines to deal with the stigma. They need to take a fresh look at what they do, revisit their business model, possibly (consider) a rebranding,” he said when asked what he would do if he were in charge of MAS.

“But with that kind of brand damage, it’s extraordinarily difficult,” he added.

But the man who has helped steer the Middle Eastern carrier to the top of the world’s civil aviation industry also said the situation MAS is in now has never been encountered by any civil airline.

He stressed that the industry should also “find a way to help these guys sort out their problems”.

A MAS flight MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people aboard.

Another MAS plane, flight MH370 en route to Beijing, vanished from radar with 239 people on board on March 8, after spotted making a turn back towards the Malaysian peninsular.

Search efforts to locate the missing Boeing 777-200 are underway in the southern Indian Ocean, where satellite data analysis suggests to be the final resting place of the plane, despite the lack of physical evidence.

In August, MAS’s majority share holder, state wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, unveiled a RM6 billion recovery plan for the ailing national carrier, which included cutting the airline’s employee headcount by 6,000 and dropping unprofitable routes.

The sovereign wealth fund has made a RM1.38 billion buyout offer to take MAS private as a first step in restructuring the national carrier which traces its beginnings to the 1930s.