12th May 2014 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Inmarsat PLC said Monday it has proposed a free global airline tracking service to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, following the loss of Malaysia Airline's flight MH370.
The global mobile satellite communications safety services provider said it has proposed the service to the ICAO as part of the anticipated adoption of further aviation safety service measures by airlines across the world following the loss of flight MH370.
The service would be offered over the Inmarsat network, said the company, and is already being offered to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft that are already equipped with an Inmarsat satellite connection, which the firm said is "virtually 100% of the world's long haul commercial fleet."
Inmarsat will also offer an enhanced position reporting facility to support reduced in-flight aircraft separation, and a 'black box in the cloud' service, under which - on the back of certain defined trigger events (such as an unapproved course deviation) - historic and real-time flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder information can be streamed off an aircraft to defined aviation safety recipients.
Announced ahead of the ICAO's airline tracking conference in Montreal Monday, Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said of the service, "we are confident that the proposals we have presented to ICAO... represent a major contribution to enhancing aviation safety services on a global basis. In the wake of the loss of MH370, we believe this is simply the right thing to do.
"Because of the universal nature of existing Inmarsat aviation services, our proposals can be implemented right away on all ocean-going commercial aircraft using equipment that is already installed... This offer responsibly, quickly and at little or no cost to the industry, addresses in part the problem brought to light by the recent tragic events around MH370," Pearce added.
The missing Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared on March 8 and despite extensive search and rescue missions, nothing related to the flight has been found.
Inmarsat shares were trading 0.62% higher at 731 pence per share Monday morning.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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