What a difference four months can make. In March, Malaysian leader Najib Razak was widely criticized for mishandling the search for a Malaysian Airlines jet that disappeared with 239 people on board. His government's unsteady initial response to the Flight 370 tragedy deeply tarnished the Malaysia brand.
Critics are seeing a very different Najib after Malaysian Air lost a second Boeing 777 on July 17: steady, circumspect and statesmanlike. As world leaders bickered with President Vladimir Putin over Russia's alleged role in the shooting down of Flight 17, Najib quietly brokered deals with rebel leaders in Ukraine to gain access to the bodies of 298 people and the plane's black boxes. The diplomatic coup has gone a long way toward erasing memories of the MH370 fiasco.
It will be much harder for Malaysian Air to recover its own reputation, however. Most observers acknowledge that the airline bears no blame for the loss of MH17. But as a business, it was teetering well before the crash, bleeding about $1.6 million a day.