First-time Malaysia Airlines traveller Alan David King, 65, a Canadian investor on business in Kuala Lumpur, said: "It doesn’t make me feel any safer about flying when a plane disappears. For someone to take a big plane, an airline with that many people, is frightening.”

"I would have thought twice about flying to Malaysia but I've got business to do," he added.

Krishnan Ramachandran, 48, works for a major multi-national company based in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley. He flies twice a month, accruing more than 250,000 air miles a year.

"It's very mind-boggling. I mean, how a large plane can disappear off the earth. Nobody has a clue," he said.

Mr Ramachandran admitted he had thought twice about boarding a Malaysia Airlines craft, but had not wanted to delay the trip for an hour to fly with Cathay Pacific.

He said he would make a decision on whether to travel with the carrier in the future when the truth finally emerges.

As a father paces nervously up and down the aisle soothing his young daughter, a mechanical engineer who says he flies with the airline some four times a year says he knows the company’s safety record is not in question.

"It's ineptitude at the highest level of government. This plane going missing is one small issue of a host of problems in this country," said the traveller, who wished to remain anonymous.

After touching down there is a slight shift in the atmosphere - a palpable sense of relief.

Minutes later passengers spill into the arrivals hall and line up in front of surly security personnel.

An immigration officer barely glances at the Post reporter's face as he scans a biometric airport, face locked intently onto his computer screen.

He speaks only once, asking the reporter to scan both index fingers.

It is clear what has happened to flight MH370 has had an effect on those on the ground as well as those in the air.