Malaysia Airlines retires MH17 flight code

Malaysia Airlines today said it would retire flight code MH17 of the plane that was shot down over Ukraine as a mark of respect for the 298 people aboard, the second time the carrier has done so this year after the MH370 crash in March.

The Malaysian flag carrier said in a statement that it will no longer use MH17 to identify any of its Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flights from Friday.

The flight code on the route would be replaced with MH19.

Malaysia Airlines' Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur service, MH17 flight number will be retired out of respect for our crew and passengers, the national flag carrier said in a statement.

"There are no changes to the frequency of our services and we will continue to operate daily services between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur," New Straits Times Online quoted the airline as having said in the statement.

"Our thoughts and prayers remains with the families of our colleagues and passengers of MH17," it added.

Kuala Lumpur-bound MH17 was apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile over the violence-hit eastern Ukraine on Thursday hours after taking off from Amsterdam.

All 298 people on board the flight were killed in the disaster.

Earlier, the airliner had retired flight code MH370 after the plane crashed mysteriously on March 8 in southern Indian Ocean. No wreckage of the plane has been found so far.