Search costs

I know the huge public interest for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight has tapered off a bit, but the fact of the matter is, the plane is still missing.

By no means am I saying to stop the search, but it is getting expensive.

Here are the figures, according to the NY Daily News:

At a conservative count, at least $30 million has been invested in the search so far, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

But with several nations involved in combing a remote and inaccessible stretch of the Indian Ocean for plane debris and the elusive black box, exact costs are hard to come by.

The Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Defense have together contributed just shy of $7 million as of last week.

Australia may be bearing some of the largest costs, according to the AP.

It takes $550,000 a day to keep its ship HMAS Success in the search. Australia’s second vessel, HMAS Toowoomba, costs $380,000 a day.

But those figures are just for fuel, servicing and crew salaries.

Additional costs that are hard to calculate are linked to the ships’ upkeep and administration, AP said.