Search for missing flight MH370 will end in 2016

A police officer looks for debris from MH370 on a beach in Sainte-Marie de la Reunion, on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Photo / Getty

The search in the southern Indian Ocean for the ill-fated missing Malaysia Airlines flight is expected to finish in six months, the International Business Times is reporting, quoting the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre.

The search has been the largest and most expensive aviation investigation in history. Nearly 80,000 sq km of the sea floor has already been covered.

Flight MH370 went missing March 8 last year after departing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bound for Beijing, China.

Despite a massive multinational search for the plane, few traces have turned up.

This year, debris was found washed ashore on Reunion Island, a French territory, which was confirmed as part of the plane's wing.

In recent months, aviation experts have said they believe investigators might be close to discovering the whereabouts of the plane.

The 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead, with the Boeing 777 likely to have crashed into the ocean.

Those on board included New Zealand man Paul Weeks.

The search for the missing aircraft has cost Malaysia an estimated $75 million.

#MH370 More than 80,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far. pic.twitter.com/HAHSrQYoQx

— George Hatcher Sr. (@GeorgeHatcher) December 23, 2015