PETALING JAYA, April 7 — Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya today again declined to comment on his future with the flag carrier that he said could take up to half a year to recover from the tragedy of flight MH370.

Speaking during a press conference on search effort for the missing plane here today, the CEO of MAS said the experiences of other airlines demonstrated that such disasters could weigh on performance for the amount of time.

“This incident has affected the airlines and we have seen from previous incidents that it can take up to 6 months to recover.

“We intend to do that and try to do it sooner,” Ahmad Jauhari said at the press conference that was also broadcast live on television.

He was responding to a question on who would foot the bill for the search for the MAS plane that disappeared on March 8 with 239 on board, a search that experts estimate is already the most expensive in history despite being just a month old and having delivered no evidence of the plane.

Ahmad Jauhari also brushed aside a question on him staying on at the helm of the ailing flag carrier.

“With regards to my position, I still have work to do,” he volunteered.

The MAS chief previously dismissed a similar question over his future, saying it was a “personal decision” he will take at a later date.

Analysts told The Malay Mail Online last month that MH370 was not likely to affect MAS significantly, pointing to the airline’s previously unblemished record and Malaysia’s robust aviation industry.

Another aviation industry analyst noted that passenger volume for Air France did not fall following the crash of AF447 on 2009, registering just a single monthly decline in November the same year.

AF447 crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009 and the main wreckage was not found until 2011.

“The Malaysian aviation industry is still strong. The demand for travel is still strong,” said the analyst, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

He also told The Malay Mail Online that the MH370 incident may drive MAS to compete more fiercely with other airlines in the local market that is dominated by the state-owned carrier and budget airline AirAsia, with hybrid airline Malindo Air recently entering the sector last year.

MH370 disappeared shortly after it departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing a month ago with 12 crew members and 227 passengers. It has not been heard from since and is believed to have crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.