Two tragedies spell likely end for Malaysia Airlines

Hit by two tragedies in quick succession, the Malaysia Airlines brand may become the airline industry’s equivalent of asbestos or News of the World: toxic to the public and, according to experts, impossible to redeem.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 — with 298 people on board — was downed on Thursday over eastern Ukraine by what officials believe was a surface-to-air missile.

Just four months earlier, a Malaysia Airlines jetliner carrying some 239 people disappeared about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. The jet has still not been found.