MH370 timeline

March 8, 2014 — 12.41am: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departs Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. 40 minutes into the flight, the plane’s transponder, which broadcasts its identity, altitude and speed, stops working. At 8.11am, the plane sends an hourly signal to a satellite, suggesting it is still intact and flying.

March 9 to 13, 2014: Search focuses on Gulf of Thailand, where crew last made contact with air traffic controllers.

March 14, 2014: Malaysian authorities release map saying satellite picked up a signal from aircraft seven-and-a-half hours after it took off. Signal was picked up along one of two long arcs stretching from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean, west of Australia.

March 18, 2014: Start of Australian-led search in Indian Ocean about 1,800km off the coast of Perth, Australia.

March 24, 2014: Malaysian authorities announce flight has crashed in the Southern Indian Ocean, based on satellite data.

March 25, 2014: Malaysian authorities announce evidence of a final unexplained “partial handshake” by the aircraft to the satellite at 8.19am. on March 8. Aircraft had enough fuel to keep flying for perhaps half an hour after the last signal at 8:11am. It is thought the plane plunged into the ocean after the handshake.

Feb 25, 2015: Australian authorities say that vessels have completed scanning about 40 per cent of the 60,000 sq km ‘priority search area’, but found nothing.