Malaysia Airlines is hiring German specialist consultant Airpas to help the struggling airline cut costs, the companies said today.

The airline would use the software solution provided by Airpas Aviation "to manage all direct operating costs," said Susanne Kuehn, from Airpas headquarters in Braunschweig.

The solution would streamline internal processes and provide "yearly savings running into millions," she told dpa by email.

The Malaysian national carrier, which was hit by back-to-back deadly air tragedies last year, has made a loss for the past four years, and said it hopes to return to profit in 2017.

The Airpas solution will help by "cutting overspends significantly," the airline's chief executive Christoph Mueller said.

German chief executive Mueller, who came on board in March, has prioritised cost-cutting to revive the airline's ailing fortunes, he told British business daily the Financial Times last month.

Earlier, Mueller helped restore Aer Lingus to profitability during his five years at the helm of the Irish flag carrier.

Malaysia Airlines will be Airpas's first customer in South-East Asia, Airpas chief executive Reinhold Renger said.

The airline's brand and customer confidence suffered from the 2014 incidents, which left no survivors.

On Mar 8, 2014, Beijing-bound flight MH 370 disappeared an hour after it took off from the KL International Airport. Only fragments of the aircraft have been recovered after washing ashore.

On July 17, flight MH 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed after it was shot by a missile while passing through Eastern Ukraine.

- dpa