The ongoing search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, becoming the most expensive search in aviation history.
Estimates compiled by Reuters show that, after a month of searching, at least USD44 million (RM143.45 million) has already been spent on the depployment of military ships and aircraft in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea by China, Vietnam, Australia and the United States. The figure is based on defence force statistics on available hourly costs of various assets, estimates by defence analysts and costs reportedby the Pentagon.
The costs for the first month of the search for Flight MH370 is already about to equal the official 32 million euros spent in the search for Air France Flight AF447 in 2009. The search for Flight AF447, which crashed in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, lasted several months spread out over a two-year time period.
The US$44 million estimate for MH370 does not cover all the defence assets being used by countries including Britain, France, New Zealand and South Korea, nor numerous other costs such as civilian aircraft, accommodation for hundreds of personnel and expenses for intelligence analysts worldwide.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott have repeatedly said the cost of the search is not an issue.
However, Abbott has hinted that Australia, which is bearing most of the expenses of the search now that it is centred on the section of the Indian Ocean off its western coast, might at some point be sending out invoices.
“It’s only reasonable that we should bear this cost ― it’s an act of international citizenship,” Abbott said last week.
“At some point, there might need to be a reckoning, there might need to be some kind of tallying, but nevertheless we are happy to be as helpful as we can to all the countries that have a stake in this.”
China and the United States have also spent heavily on the search for the missing jetliner, which dropped off the radar in the early hours of March 8, with 227 passengers and 12 crew. 153 of the passengers were Chinese nationals.
China has sent a total of 18 ships, eight helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft to various search areas during the month-long search operations.
The Pentagon said last week that it had already spent more than US$3.3 million on the search and has put in place plans to nearly double its original US$4 million budget.
A Malaysian government source, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the entire search and recovery for MH370 could be at least double the money spent to recover the black box from Air France’s AF447.
See Also: MH370: search for jetliner to move to ocean floor
Story: Reuters
Reader Interactions