MH370: Timeline of major developments

2018

July 30: Local authorities release report on MH370 investigation, vowing that it is not the final one.

May 29: Hunt for MH370 with Ocean Infinity ends with no trace of the aircraft found.

Jan 5: Search for MH370 resumes in the southern Indian Ocean with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity, under a contract with the Malaysian government on a “no cure, no fee” basis.

2017

Jan 17: Last vessel departs the underwater search area. Search for MH370 suspended.

2016

Dec 20: A report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says aircraft is unlikely to be in the 120,000sq km search area and is more likely in a 25,000sq km area to the north.

July 22: Countries involved agree that should the aircraft not be located in the current search area, and in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location, the search will be suspended.

2015

July 29: Flaperon from MH370 found on Reunion Island. Other debris has since been recovered on coastlines along the Indian Ocean.

April 16: The Joint Agency Coordination Centre doubles the area of the search to 120,000sq km.

March 8: An interim statement released on the first anniversary of MH370's disappearance suggests a battery in the underwater locator beacon on the plane had expired in December 2013.

Jan 29: Malaysia formally declares Flight MH370 an accident and says all 239 people on board are presumed dead, allowing families to obtain death certificates and start legal claims.

2014

March 24: Najib announces MH370 “ended” its journey in the Southern Indian Ocean based on Inmarsat satellite data.

March 15: Then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announces the plane was flown for hours in a manner "consistent with deliberate action" after dropping off radar.

March 8: Air traffic control loses contact with the plane 40 minutes into the flight from KL to Beijing. An air-and-sea search operation starts.