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As investigators prepare to concede defeat in their search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, some scientists are pondering the unthinkable: they’ve been looking in the wrong place for more than 2 years. Ships scouring an almost endless expanse of southern Indian Ocean have turned up nothing of the jet. With no closure in sight, transport ministers from Malaysia, China and Australia meet Thursday in Kuala Lumpur to assess the US$135m operation. There are no plans to look beyond the designated 120,000 square kilometres, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said. More than 90% of the search area has already been covered. The absence of wreckage in the search area to date may question one of the recovery mission’s central assumptions -- that no one was in control of the plane when it ran out of fuel. <br/>

The Sri Lankan govt has called for expressions of interest in the privatisation of SriLankan Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary, Mihin Lanka. An advert, titled “invitation for expression of interest for the reorientation of SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka,” has been placed in print publications by National Savings Bank subsidiary NSB Fund Management, which is managing the process. It specified that the purpose of the process is to find a strategic investor for the “reorientation” of the two airlines. The exact stake that will be up for sale is unclear, although it has been suggested it could be around 40%. Earlier this year, the govt said it was considering an equity buy-in from another airline and possible aircraft order cancellations to stem ongoing losses at the carrier. <br/>