KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 ― Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein will travel to Australia next week to discuss the search for Flight MH370 as well as the costs of the operation.
Speaking at a press conference after opening the Express Railway Link (ERL) to Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2), Hishammuddin said the subject of cost must be addressed even though Australia has not raised it so far.
“Next week we will be going to Australia to talk about the dollars and cents up until now,” he said.
He added that the discussion will also include “relevant” stakeholders and issues on the search location and what assets will be deployed.
“Another important issue is who is going to supply the assets which will be necessary to carry out the search,” Hishammuddin told the reporters at the press conference.
AFP reported today that the intensive aerial search for surface wreckage from Flight MH370 officially ended today with the hunt drastically scaled back with ships also moving out of the remote Indian Ocean area where the plane is believed to have gone down.
The cost to search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 is already the most expensive search and rescue operation ever conducted, with estimates placing it beyond the US$50 million (RM163 million) spent on the nearly two-year hunt for Air France flight AF447.
Canberra previously expressed its commitment to continue the search but acknowledged that “there will be some issues of costs into the future.”
The MH370 aircraft went missing with 239 people aboard since March 8.
