MH370: Most expensive aviation search in history over RM161 mil

The search and investigation into missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 is already the most expensive in aviation history, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Australian newspaper quoted figures released to Fairfax Media, saying that the snippets of costings revealed, provide only a small snapshot, but appears to have surpassed the previous record just after four weeks.

The previous most expensive search was a USD50mil (RM164 mil) spent on the two-year Air France Flight 447 probe.

The biggest expense in the MAS search involved ships, satellites, planes and submarines deployed first in the South China Sea and the Malacca Straits, and later in the remote reaches of the southern Indian Ocean.

HMAS Success, the Australian navy replenishment vessel deployed two weeks ago, costs about RM1.67mil day to operate, said a defence spokesperson. HMAS Toowoomba was diverted a week ago to join the hunt for MH370 and has direct costs – fuel, supplies, wages of the crew – of RM1.16mil a day.

Combined, the two vessels have cost more than RM30.4mil while in the Indian Ocean.

It is also known that the United States Navy has allocated $US3.6 million (RM11.8mil) for the deployment of a pinger locator and underwater drone on the vessel that will search for the plane's black box recorders.

But aside from the black box locators, Pentagon on Wednesday said it had spent $US3.3 million(RM10.8mil) on its ships and aircraft during operations to locate MH370.

Vietnam, reportedly, spent more than $US8 million (RM 26.2mil) searching for the plane in the South China Sea.

Geoff Dell, an air crash investigation expert from Central Queensland University, said the cost of the aircraft flying daily 10-hour sorties would comfortably amount to $1 million (RM3mil) a day. Over four weeks, a conservative estimate of the cost of the airborne search - excluding the US planes - would be $25 million (RM76mil) so far.

The only other explicit cost figure is the $US5000 (RM16, 397) offered by the Malaysian government for the 227 passengers (not crew), which amounts to $1.25 million (RM 3.7 mil).

Taking the known costs and the estimate of the airborne search, it all amounts to $53 million (RM161mil).

This would be only a small fraction of the expenditure so far given 26 nations have been involved in the search. More than 40 navy vessels have been involved, with at least a dozen aircraft searching each day.

Then there is the cost of the intelligence analysts, police and air crash investigators from Malaysia, the US, Britain and France, among others.

Air Chief Marshal (rtd) Angus Houston said on Friday he would give an overall estimate of the cost at a later date. ''It's a lot of money," he said.