The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is on track to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, becoming the most expensive search in aviation history with 26 countries contributing planes, ships, submarines and satellites to the international effort.
A month into the search for the jet, estimates compiled by Reuters show that at least $44 million has already been spent on the deployment of military ships and aircraft in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea by Australia, China, the United States and Vietnam. The figure is based on defense force statistics on available hourly costs of various assets, estimates by defense analysts and costs reported by the Pentagon.
The figure for the first month of the search is already about equal to the official €32 million ($44 million) spent in searches lasting several months spread over a two-year time frame for Air France's Flight AF447, which crashed into the mid-Atlantic in 2009.