MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, after it had been travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board the Boeing 777 aircraft. Australian aviator and entrepreneur Dick Smith has called for travellers to pay a surcharge on airline tickets to raise cash for a fresh search for the missing plane. Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Smith outlined how some experts believe “an oxygen cylinder” could have “blown up” causing the disappearance.
He said: “It is the only major aircraft that has disappeared without us knowing.
“You need to find the flight data recorder because some people think this is a murder-suicide. If it is you won’t learn much.
“But, if with Malaysia MH370 there is a fault in the design of that aircraft, everyone should be worried.”
Mr Smith also claimed an airline pilot explained to him how the disappearance could be down to an “oxygen cylinder” that has exploded.
He said: “He believes it is an oxygen cylinder that has blown up and taken out certain information.
“Imagine this, in his scenario, the crew are heroes. Whereas everyone thinks the crew are murderers or its suicide.”
Asked what more could be done to track down the plane, Mr Smith said: “We just haven’t spent enough money.
“The money is tiny, there is €3.7billion a year spent on airline tickets, if you put 10cents on a ticket, you’d have €370million.
“It is really important we find that recorder.”
It comes as Malaysia’s Prime Minister has vowed to not give up on the search for the missing plane.
Mahathir Mohamad promised his country “will continue” looking for the doomed plane which is believed to have come down somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
Speaking for the first time to one of the victims’ families, Mr Mahathir said: “For as long as there is hope, we will continue to think of ways and means to find out” what happened to the plane.
Two massive search operations combining thousands of miles of ocean have taken place since the jet mysteriously lost contact with air traffic control.
The official search for MH370, jointly carried out by Malaysia, China and Australia, was called off in January 2017.
A second search, led by US exploration firm Ocean Infinity, ended similarly in May last year.