The Malaysian Cabinet has approved a one-year extension of the search agreement with UK-based marine exploration company Ocean Infinity in the continued effort to locate the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the extended agreement will run from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, while retaining all existing terms and conditions, including the “no find, no fee” arrangement.
Under the agreement, Ocean Infinity will receive US$70 million only if the missing aircraft is successfully located.
Loke said the government’s decision reflects its ongoing commitment to providing answers and closure to the families of the 239 passengers and crew who were on board the ill-fated flight.
“The approval of this extension is intended to allow Ocean Infinity to complete the search of the remaining 7,428.54 square kilometres of the designated search area,” he said in a statement on Monday.
He explained that the extension also takes into account Ocean Infinity’s new commercial commitments, which require its primary search vessels to be temporarily redeployed to other operations.
According to Loke, the redeployment can only take place between November 2026 and April 2027, when calmer sea conditions provide the safest and most effective window for deep-sea search operations.
Malaysia signed the latest search agreement with Ocean Infinity on March 25, 2025, while the company began its renewed search mission on February 25 that year. The operation was carried out in two phases but did not succeed in locating the aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.
More than a decade later, the disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in aviation history, with investigators and families continuing to hope that the aircraft’s final resting place will eventually be found.
