New search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 approved as researchers plan to investigate fresh area of Indian Ocean

Malaysia’s government granted a U.S.-based tech firm final approval to restart its search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — more than 11 years after the plane disappeared in one of the aviation industry’s most confounding mysteries.

Ocean Infinity, a maritime exploration firm based in Texas and Britain, signed a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Malaysian officials on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Ocean Infinity will receive its $70 million reward only if it locates the plane. This was the same contract Ocean Infinity had almost seven years ago, but the company did not find any wreckage.

This time, Ocean Infinity will search a different area in the ocean comprising 5,800 square miles, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement. The Malaysian government announced in December that it had agreed to launch a new search for MH370.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” Loke said.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people including 12 crew members, vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while it was traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. It kicked off the largest search in aviation history, but the plane has still never been found. Several pieces of marine debris, which were discovered along the coast of Africa and on several Indian Ocean islands, were confirmed in 2016 to be from Flight 370.

Collected satellite data reportedly showed that the plane deviated from its planned flight path and headed toward the southern Indian Ocean, which is where researchers believe the plane crashed.

Ocean Infinity’s deep-water support vessel, the Armada 7806, arrived in a newly designated search zone in the Indian Ocean in late February. The Armada 7806, which is considered one of the most technically advanced ships of its kind, is set to deploy autonomous underwater vehicles, which provide detailed scans of the ocean floor to researchers.

Ocean Infinity shut down its previous investigation in 2018, after searching for six months without finding any of the missing aircraft. The company was also involved in a search for the aircraft led by an Australian agency that started after the plane disappeared. That effort was suspended in January 2017.

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett told reporters in March 2024 that the company was hoping to return to the search and was in contact with the Malaysian government.

“Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018,” he said. “Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.”