New Zealand's part in the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane has cost the New Zealand Defence Force $1.2 million.
RNZAF Squadron Leader Brett McKenzie (left) and Flight Engineer Trent Wyatt aboard the Orion during the search. Photo: AAP / Pool
Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished on 8 March after flying thousands of kilometres off its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing route.
The disappearance sparked the most expensive search and rescue operation in aviation history, which has so far failed to turn up any trace of wreckage from the plane. Efforts have concentrated in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia.
Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said the New Zealand Orion involved in the international search will arrive back in New Zealand on Thursday.
Dr Coleman said about 40 Air Force personnel were involved in the search over 53 days. They completed 27 flights, spent 100 hours searching, and a total of 276 hours flying.
The minister said the cost of the search was managed within the Defence Force budget.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday it was unlikely any debris would be found on the ocean surface from a the missing airliner and a new phase would now begin during which a much larger area of the ocean floor would be searched.
