Malaysia's Cabinet approved on June 26, 2026, to extend its contract with UK-based Ocean Infinity to continue the deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean for one year, from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
The extension keeps all key terms of the existing agreement, including a "no find, no fee" principle. Malaysia will only pay Ocean Infinity the US$70 million success fee if the aircraft wreckage is located [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7, 9, 10]. Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said, "Malaysia will not incur any payment if the aircraft is not located. However, Ocean Infinity will receive a success fee of US$70 million (RM284 million) if it successfully discovers the wreckage of the aircraft" [5].
The search will target the remaining 7,428.54 square kilometers of the previously specified search area[s1-s5,s7-s12]. Ocean Infinity's primary assets are scheduled for redeployment between November 2026 and April 2027, aligning with calmer sea conditions to ensure safety and effectiveness of the operations. Loke noted, "The redeployment and rescheduling of these assets can only be conducted between November 2026 and April 2027, during the calm sea season"[s1-s3,s5,s7-s10].
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The flight carried either 239 people total, comprising 227 passengers and 12 crew members, according to some sources [1, 2, 11, 6], or 239 passengers and crew combined according to others [3, 4, 8, 9].
Previous search efforts, including those by Ocean Infinity until 2018 and under the resumed contract signed in 2025, have failed to locate the aircraft wreckage [2, 11, 6, 9]. The past search is considered one of aviation’s most expensive, costing around US$200 million and involving multiple countries and assets [1].
Transport Minister Loke said the Cabinet's decision reflects "the government's unwavering and continuous commitment to providing the long-awaited closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370" [1, 6].
Ocean Infinity will continue searching through mid-2027 with no further payments incurred by Malaysia unless the wreckage is found. The next major operational phase begins in November 2026, marking the start of asset redeployment for the final search effort scheduled through April 2027[s1-s3,s5,s7-s10].
