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The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will continue for another year, Malaysian authorities confirmed on Monday, extending one of aviation’s most prolonged and complex investigations more than a decade after the aircraft disappeared.
The Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The disappearance remains one of the most enduring mysteries in modern aviation history.
Two-thirds of those onboard were Chinese nationals, with the remaining passengers including Malaysians, Indonesians, Australians, Indians, Americans, Dutch, and French citizens.
Despite what is widely regarded as the largest search operation in aviation history, the wreckage has never been located, leaving families without answers more than ten years later.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Anthony Loke, said the government has approved an extension of the current seabed search agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity until June 30, 2027. The arrangement maintains the existing “no find, no fee” structure, under which the company will only receive $70 million if the aircraft is discovered.
“This decision is a manifestation of the government’s continuous and unwavering commitment to provide a closure for the next of kin of the passengers aboard flight MH370,” Loke said in a statement.
He added that the extension would allow Ocean Infinity to complete the remaining search area, covering approximately 7,428.54 square kilometres, as part of a renewed push to locate the aircraft. According to him, operational adjustments were also necessary due to other commercial commitments requiring the firm’s assets to be temporarily redeployed.
“The redeployment and rescheduling of these assets can only be conducted between November 2026 and April 2027, during the calm sea season, to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the search,” he said.
The most recent search phase, conducted in two stages beginning in March 2025, ended without success. Previous efforts, including a major Australian-led operation that ran until 2017 and an Ocean Infinity-led search in 2018, also failed to locate the aircraft.
Families of Chinese passengers, marking the 12th anniversary of the disappearance on March 8, expressed frustration in an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. While acknowledging the challenges, they noted that since mid-January, “families have received no further search briefings whatsoever,” despite earlier engagement during the renewed search effort.
The latest extension underscores both the persistence of the investigation and the unresolved anguish surrounding one of aviation’s greatest unanswered questions.
