It's believed Malaysian Airlines could be facing the prospect of a hundreds of lawsuits.

Flight MH370 has been missing for 46 days now - and the Malaysian government is reportedly preparing death certificates for the 239 people on board.

That would open the way for possible financial compensation for families and also raises the prospects of negligence claims against the airline.

Professor Brian Havel is the director of the International Aviation Law Institute at Chicago's DePaul University.

He says Malaysian Airlines is likely to settle all claims out of court.