UK daily The Telegraph reported yesterday that the route was deleted before the Boeing 777 jet carrying 239 people on board vanished from radar on March 8, and according to satellite data, went down in the southern Indian Ocean.

The discovery of the flight path on Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s flight simulator, which was used to practise landing an aircraft on a small runway on an unnamed island far in the southern Indian Ocean, has now bolstered suspicion that the experienced Malaysia Airlines pilot hijacked his own plane shortly after flying from Kuala Lumpur and diverted it from its original route to Beijing.

Yesterday, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein reportedly denied a news report claiming that the 53-year-old pilot was the prime suspect behind the disappearance of the commercial plane.

The Telegraph reported that investigators and detectives, including Britain’s Air Incident Branch experts, have yet to find evidence of technical malfunctions that could explain the disappearance.

Probes on the backgrounds of the flight’s passengers and crew have also failed to produce any motive or evidence of anyone hijacking or sabotaging the plane.

Shortly after the jetliner disappeared, Zaharie’s friends came out in his defence and described him as a professional pilot who prioritised the safety of his passengers.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said in March that the plane was believed to have been diverted by saboteurs, hijackers, or someone with a personal vendetta or psychological issues.

A massive aerial and underwater hunt — considered the longest and most expensive in aviation history — has yet to reveal any evidence of the jet, be it wreckage or human remains.

Bloomberg reported last Wednesday Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre as saying that a new search area in the southern Indian Ocean will be announced by the end of the month.