Officials in Australia have announced a new search area as they continue to look for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The move follows further analysis of satellite data.

The search will now shift south to focus on an area 1,800 kilometres off the west coast of Australia, deputy prime minister Warren Truss confirmed.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Match 8th, with 239 passengers on board.

Releasing the latest report into the incident, officials said they believed the plane had been on autopilot when it crashed.

“It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings,” Truss explained.

The new search is due to commence in August and is expected to be completed within a year, Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief Martin Dolan confirmed.

The search for the missing airliner is already among most expensive in aviation history.