Malaysia Airlines Ordered To Pay CNY2.9 Million Per Victim To Eight MH370 Families

The airline has already quietly settled 47 out of 78 Chinese cases through court mediation since 2016, demonstrating consistent cooperation with families rather than stonewalling.

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A Beijing court has ordered Malaysia Airlines to pay compensation to the families of passengers who disappeared on flight MH370, more than a decade after the plane vanished without a trace.

The Chaoyang District People’s Court ruled on 5 December that Malaysia Airlines must pay each affected family over CNY2.9 million (about RM1.68 million) in compensation.

The payout covers death compensation, funeral expenses, emotional distress damages and other losses related to the disappearance of their loved ones.

Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board – about two-thirds of the passengers on the flight were Chinese.

The Boeing 777 lost contact with air traffic control about an hour after takeoff, sparking one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia officially declared the flight lost in January 2015, presuming all passengers and crew were dead.

Families Win Compensation After Decade-long Legal Battle

Since 2016, families of 75 missing passengers have filed lawsuits against the airline, resulting in 78 separate cases.

The court said 47 of those cases were settled through mediation, with families reaching agreements with the airline.

This latest ruling covers eight cases involving eight passengers, all of whom have been legally declared dead.

The court based its decision on the Montreal Convention, an international treaty governing airline liability, and Chinese law.

Another 23 cases are still pending, as those families have not yet completed the legal process to have their relatives declared dead.

The disappearance of MH370 remains one of aviation’s biggest unsolved mysteries, with only scattered debris pieces found along coastlines in the western Indian Ocean despite extensive international search efforts.

MH370 Search To Resume

Meanwhile, the search for the missing aircraft is set to resume later this month, with underwater exploration company Ocean Infinity restarting the hunt for MH370 wreckage on 30 December.

The new search will focus on a 15,000 square kilometre area about 1,500 kilometres off Perth, Australia – a more targeted approach than previous efforts.

Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, Malaysia will pay Ocean Infinity USD70 million if the wreckage is found, but nothing if the search comes up empty.

This marks the latest attempt to solve aviation’s greatest mystery, following Malaysia’s official end of search efforts in May 2018.

Ocean Infinity had previously attempted to locate the aircraft after the Malaysian government agreed to its proposal in December last year, but the search was suspended in April due to weather conditions.

The renewed search effort comes as families continue their legal battles for compensation, more than a decade after their loved ones disappeared.