Malaysia Airlines has told New Zealand travel agents its government owner is committed to ensuring its long-term future as the national carrier.

A call by the chief of Emirates for a global summit of carriers to tackle new threats to planes has been met with a muted response from the body representing airlines.

Auckland psychologist Grant Amos believes the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March proved more troubling to nervous passengers.

Malaysia Airlines shares halted their dramatic slide yesterday but speculation about the airline's future grew.

Families of MH17 victims have urgently cancelled their loved ones' credit cards and mobile phones amid reports of looting at the crash site.

Australia continued to spearhead international demands yesterday for Russian-backed rebels to allow unrestricted access to the MH17 crash site.

European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels today, facing the challenge of proving Russia's role in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

The father of three Australian children killed on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has taken indefinite leave from his job as head of Buxton Resources.

A New Zealand diplomat from Moscow has been sent to Kiev to monitor an investigation into the Malaysia Air disaster, Prime Minister John Key says.

192 bodies found after MH17 crashed to the ground have been bundled into black body bags and loaded into large refrigerated train cars, bound for the rebel heartland.

Mary Menke fell in love as she travelled the world as a young woman - four decades later, she died flying home to New Zealand with the man she married.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was guided off its most recently used course as its pilots hoped to avoid thunderstorms brewing in the south of Ukraine, it's been claimed.

John Key says he is "deeply concerned" by the lack of access to the MH17 crash site and has called on Vladimir Putin to show leadership on the issue.

A Dutch couple coming to New Zealand to visit their Taupo-based daughter on a "trip of a lifetime" were among those killed on MH17.

A popular former Auckland and Queenstown restaurateur was on board the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

A single image proved especially poignant; a passenger’s travel book and holiday novel strewn on the grass.

Auckland aviation expert Irene King says the "thugs" who shot down the Malaysian airliner will never get away with claiming they thought their target was military.

Scenes of horror, with crumpled corpses and body parts strewn amid the smouldering wreckage, greeted local villagers and pro-Russian rebels who were first on the crash site.

A Malaysia Airlines flight attendant who flew to Auckland a fortnight ago is among those on board the Boeing 777 airliner shot down in Ukraine early yesterday NZ time.

A fate as horrific as that of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 invites a thorough rethinking of a number of cherished notions.

A Western Australia family is mourning the cruel loss of three children who were travelling with their grandfather on the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

"We have every expectation our son will be getting off a plane in Wellington tomorrow," says Wendy Ayley, mother of Otaki man Robert Ayley, who was on flight MH17.

If history is anything to go by, the downing of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine could trigger a dangerous chain reaction.

A New Zealand woman has been confirmed as being among the victims of the Malaysia Airlines crash. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully confirmed the death and said another person, a British citizen who had been living in New Zealand, was also killed. The New Zealand woman, a longtime resident of Australia, was travelling with her husband, a Dutch citizen."Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those involved," says Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

Airlines were warned in April to avoid airspace over Ukraine, but experts suggest they preferred to save money on fuel.

Airbus Group delivered a final flurry of jet orders to see off the challenge from Boeing at the Farnborough Air Show, with a tally of purchases and commitments worth $75b.

Gold futures posted the biggest gain in four weeks after Ukraine said rebels shot down a Malaysian jet carrying 295 people near its border with Russia. Palladium extended a rally to a 13-year high.