This is turning out to be an expensive year for air insurers

Does Malaysia Airlines' policy “all risk” policy really not include a sublimit for search and rescue costs?

That's the assertion of an article on the MH17 crash in Ukraine in Tuesday's issue of The New York Times, which goes into detail on the Allianz policy held by Malaysia Airlines, including the $2.25 billion per crash limit on the airline's all risk coverage. If the search and rescue costs are not capped, the article reads, the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines' last crash — the MH370 flight that went missing over the Indian Ocean on March 8 — could prove very costly for insurers and could send shockwaves through the broader air insurance market.

Regardless how the issue shakes out, however, 2014 is already shaping up as a very expensive year for air insurers.

“For just one category of aviation insurance — war risk insurance on the planes — estimated claims for incidents in the last five months now total up to $600 million for a sector that collects $65 million a year in premiums,” the Times story reads.

Read the full story here.