--- description: The costs of the international search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continue to build a month after the jet disappeared title: You'll Never Guess How Much The Search for the Missing Plane Costs image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Aviation](/tag/aviation/) ## Aviation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is How Much The Search For The Missing Plane Has Cost by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 8, 2014 12:29 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 8, 2014 12:29 PM CUT The search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has already [cost $44 million](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-malaysia-airlines-costs-idUSBREA3709520140408 "undefined"), according to a new report, and that figure could reach well into the hundreds of millions before the search is over, making it the most expensive search in aviation history. The $44 million figure, based on a Reuters estimate, includes money spent by the United States, China, Australia and Vietnam alone, but not spending by the other 22 countries that have contributed to the search. The figure is based on estimates of hourly costs of the various assets dedicated to the search. More has been spent in one month searching for the missing plane than was spent in two years searching for Air France 447, which crashed in the Atlantic in 2009. So far, Australia has borne the brunt of the expenses, since it is leading the search in the southern Indian Ocean off the western coast, but Prime Minister Tony Abbot indicated there may be some financial settling up in the future. “It’s only reasonable that we should bear this cost—it’s an act of international citizenship,” Abbot 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.” \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-malaysia-airlines-costs-idUSBREA3709520140408 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/"},"headline":"This Is How Much The Search For The Missing Plane Has Cost","datePublished":"2014-04-08T12:29:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:11:23.718Z","description":"The costs of the international search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continue to build a month after the jet disappeared with 239 people aboard","url":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/","keywords":["Aviation","Australia","Malaysia","plane","Flight MH370","cost"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/","name":"This Is How Much The Search For The Missing Plane Has Cost"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What's Inside a Black Box?","description":"Here's look at all the data contained in a so-called black box.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pg3GIKd9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-05T21:30:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pg3GIKd9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/","duration":"PT2M17S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```