Malaysia Airlines said Sunday in a statement that MH17 flight number would be replaced by MH19, which would take effect on July 25, 2014.

"In light of the recent incident, Malaysia Airlines' Amsterdam (AMS) Kuala Lumpur (KUL) service, MH17 flight number will be retired out of respect for our crew and passengers of the mentioned flight code. This will take into effect on 25 July 2014," it said in the statement.

It said there were no changes to the frequency of the services and the daily services between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur would continue operating.

At the same time, earlier Sunday an official statement said a government team led by Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman would be departing for Ukraine Sunday night.