Chinese military aircraft will start the search operation for the missing Malaysian jetliner on Monday in the southern Indian Ocean where suspicious debris of MH370 was spotted.

Two Chinese Air Force Ilyushin IL-76 planes will head toward the search area early Monday and provide relevant information for Chinese naval search vessels, Commander Liu Dianjun said Sunday.

The two planes will fly from RAAF Base Pearce to Perth and, after refuelling, will leave for the sea area in the southern Indian Ocean where objects possibly related to MH370 were spotted by satellites.

Liu said the Chinese aircraft will make a roughly eight-hour round-trip flight during their first search mission, with the furthest point 2,700 km away from Perth.

Wang Quansheng, captain of one of the two IL-76 planes, said his crew members are preparing the plane to take more fuel so that it can search a wider area for a longer time.

The international hunt for MH370 shifted to the southern corridor after Australia said Thursday that satellite imagery identified suspicious debris in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Malaysian aircraft mysteriously disappeared from radar en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

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