The Kuala Lumpur-based Carrier Has Been Battling To Turn Around Its Business Since A Disastrous 2014, Which Saw The Disappearance Of Flight Mh370, Aviation's Greatest Mystery, And The Shooting Down Of Flight Mh17 Over Eastern Ukraine.

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The carrier said it was already transporting Muslim pilgrims on charter flights to Saudi Arabia and was "in a good position to cater to increased passenger demand on this route". The Haj is a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and takes place once a year, with more than one million Muslims travelling by air, while the Umrah pilgrimage, also to Mecca, can be undertaken at any time of the year. Malaysia Airlines had previously said that it was in talks to lease its aircraft for the pilgrimages. Malaysia's national airline has been trying to find use for its A380s - the world's biggest jetliners - after it failed to sell them. It has said in the past that the Airbus jets do not make economic sense at a time when it is cutting costs. The Kuala Lumpur-based carrier has been battling to turn around its business since a disastrous 2014, which saw the disappearance of flight MH370, aviation's greatest mystery, and the shooting down of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. The group expects to record a loss for the year 2016, although significantly smaller than initially expected. It remains cautious in its outlook for 2017. "We have delivered a stronger second half of 2016 but a weak Malaysian ringgit, Brexit uncertainty and overcapacity in the Malaysian market will be the dominant features of 2017," the airline said.

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De Kerchove stressed also a new risk of IS bringing car bomb tactics, common in Syria and Iraq, into Europe. Agencies were, he said, also preparing to counter more complex tactics in years to come, such as cyber attacks and biological weapons. For now, he said, the Internet was a weapon mainly of recruitment and radicalization of individuals -- something the EU was working on countering affordable flights to Paris from kitchener in alliance with network companies. "So far the terrorist organizations have not used the Internet as a weapon, to mount an attack through the Internet," he said, citing the risk of disrupting nuclear power stations, dams, electricity grids or even air traffic control systems. "It has not happened so far ... but I don't exclude that before five years we will be confronted by this," de Kerchove said, noting IS had the funds to hire seasoned criminal hackers. The EU was, he said, "actively working" to counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats but did not see an "acute risk", despite evidence of militants dabbling with germs or using poison flights to San Francisco from austin texas gas in Syria. "We need to be prepared," he said. International cooperation is a priority and de Kerchove spends much of his time building relationships with Arab countries, Turkey and other neighbors. Ties with the United States had become very close under President Barack Obama and de Kerchove voiced a hope they would remain so under Donald Trump. Working with Britain, a leader in counter-terrorism in Europe, should not be greatly affected by its decision this year to leave the EU.