Liow revealed that the serial number and the date stamp on the debris – which was an inboard section of a Boeing 777 outboard flap – was confirmed by both Boeing and the retailing manufacturer as belonging to the Malaysia Airlines’ aircraft.

“This means we have to study how the accident happened. Was it a controlled or uncontrolled plunge into the sea?

“All this will be analysed in detail and we hope we can get more details from this debris,” he told reporters after officiating AirAsia’s Airbus A320NEO welcoming ceremony today.

Present were AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, British High Commissioner to Malaysia Victoria Marguerite Treadell and Ambassador of France to Malaysia Christophe Penot.

In July, a piece of aircraft debris, believed to be the outboard wing flap, was found on Pemba island, Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean.

The part was then transported to Australia and analysed by its Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB).

In the same month, Australia’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester said that the debris was very likely from the missing MH370.

So far, debris believed to be from MH370 has washed up on Reunion Island, Mozambique, Mauritius and South Africa.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board after taking off from Kuala Lumpur and heading for Beijing.

Most of the passengers on board MH370 were from China. There were 50 Malaysians on board the plane.