It’s been a year or so since Malaysia saw MH370 vanish without a trace. The country now has the opposite problem:

• Three Boeing 747s have been left abandoned at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
• Authorities have placed an ad in the local newspaper asking the owners of the planes to claim and collect the jumbo jets, as well as to pay accumulated parking charges.
• The owners of the aircraft might have left the planes behind because they had run out of money and had to shut down operations.
• This isn’t the first time this has happened in Malaysia – in the 90s an abandoned aircraft was turned into a restaurant.
• The planes are expected to be auctioned off if they are not claimed by December 21^st.

The full article includes the registration numbers of the planes, in case you think it might belong to you. Read the article here.

Read about the economics of searching for MH370 here.

Source: AFP, Yahoo News

Jessica Plautz caught up with Malaysia Airlines:

• The carrier is now estimated to be losing $2.2 million a day as planes fly empty.
• The airline was unprofitable even before the twin disasters of MH17 and MH370.
• Malaysia Airlines has doubled the commission it offers to travel agents who book routes on their flights.
• It has also slashed prices – a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing costs $238. Other carriers charge over $500.
• If the airline has to shut down because of the crash it won’t be the first. Three years after flight 103 from London to New York was bombed in the 80s, the airline Pan Am went bankrupt.

See photos of the empty planes and terminals, and read more over here.

Source: Mashable

This year has seen several tragic air disasters. Keith Bradsher wrote about the airline insurance industry:

• Malaysia Airlines has a $2.25 billion overall liability policy. Airline insurance policies normally come with clauses that limit the amount that is paid out for search and rescue costs – but Malaysia Airlines’ policy does not come with any such clause.
• Given the millions that governments are spending searching for the missing MH370, Malaysia Airlines (and thus its insurers) might be asked to pay for some of the costs.
• The loss of MH370 has triggered a partial insurance payment under the “war risk” policy pending confirmation that the crash was not a result of intentional suicide or criminal action.
• Insurers will sometimes prohibit airlines from flying over dangerous regions but no such directive seems to have been issued on the route MH17 had taken over Ukraine.
• In addition to the loss of two Malaysia Airlines planes, and the crashes in Taiwan and Mali, insurers will also be on the line for planes damaged in the shelling of Libya’s main airport, and the Taliban’s attack on Pakistan’s main airport in Karachi.
• It is estimated that so far this year insurers have paid out $600 million in payments. The industry as a whole collects about $65 million a year in premiums.

Read more over here.

Source: The New York Times

How much does it cost to find a missing jetliner? CBS News took a look:

• An exact figure is hard to come by since a lot of the costs – such as the cost of maintaining a ship or paying troops – would have to be paid anyway.
• The search effort has also been valuable training for those responsible for search and rescue operations.
• The US Department of Defense has allocated about $7.6 million to help with the search. So far it has spent $3.3 million.
• Australia is spending half a million dollars a day on one of its search ships alone. To say nothing of general administration and depreciation costs.
• Japan has an $8.8 million budgeted for emergency relief and it is believed that its costs are covered by this budget.
• Malaysia refuses to provide a figure.

Read more about some of the other costs that should be accounted for, how defense cooperation agreements affect costs, and more over here. The Times of India says that $44 million has been spent on the search.

Source: CBS News

Via: Slate