Peter Jackson's jet joins Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 search

A private jet belonging to "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" director Peter Jackson is being used in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.

A spokesman for Jackson confirmed the filmmaker's Gulfstream G650 had been chartered to join in the search efforts, the New Zealand Herald reports. His plane is reportedly helping facilitate communications among teams scouring the Indian Ocean for the Boeing 777.

Spokesman Matt Dravitzki would not comment on whether Jackson was being compensated for use of his jet.

"Peter would not seek publicity for something like this and would actively avoid it in fact,'' he said, according to the Herald. "A lot of civilian and military aircraft are involved in the search and it's kind of disappointing that because one is owned by a celebrity it becomes a matter of news when there are [over] 200 people missing.''

Gulfstream describes the G650 on its website as an "ultra-high-speed, ultra-long-range business jet."

Jackson is said to have purchased the jet last March for 80 million NZD, or around $69 million. It's managed by a charter service based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was carrying 239 people when it went missing on March 8 while traveling to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.