EU To Impose Mandatory Flight-Tracking

September 16, 2015

The European Union is pursuing plans to impose mandatory flight-tracking in response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, but will not mandate a specific interval for position updates.

The disappearance of MH370, with 239 people on board, in March 2014 sparked efforts by global regulators and the airline industry to agree on systems to track aircraft, reviving a recommendation from French investigators after the crash of an Air France jet in the Atlantic in 2009.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has set a deadline for November 2016 for airlines to install tracking technology.

The European Commission is set to approve plans to mandate flight tracking from take-off to landing on new aircraft from 2018, without specifying an interval for position updates.

ICAO, on the other hand, would require aircraft to provide position information every 15 minutes when over ocean or remote areas.

EU member states signed off on the new measures in July and the European Parliament has until October 27 to raise any objections, a Commission spokesman said.

Once the deadline has passed the regulation will be formally adopted and airlines will have three years to install tracking devices. However, existing aircraft without the technology will not have to be retrofitted.

Technical details for the tracking technology, such as the position update intervals, will be prepared later by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), EU officials said.

Sources say EASA is leaning towards a three minute interval.

The EU is also trying to push within ICAO for the UN body to drop its 15-minute interval since it prefers a more flexible approach.The European Union is pursuing plans to impose mandatory flight-tracking in response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, but will not mandate a specific interval for position updates.

The disappearance of MH370, with 239 people on board, in March 2014 sparked efforts by global regulators and the airline industry to agree on systems to track aircraft, reviving a recommendation from French investigators after the crash of an Air France jet in the Atlantic in 2009.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has set a deadline for November 2016 for airlines to install tracking technology.

The European Commission is set to approve plans to mandate flight tracking from take-off to landing on new aircraft from 2018, without specifying an interval for position updates.

ICAO, on the other hand, would require aircraft to provide position information every 15 minutes when over ocean or remote areas.

EU member states signed off on the new measures in July and the European Parliament has until October 27 to raise any objections, a Commission spokesman said.

Once the deadline has passed the regulation will be formally adopted and airlines will have three years to install tracking devices. However, existing aircraft without the technology will not have to be retrofitted.

Technical details for the tracking technology, such as the position update intervals, will be prepared later by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), EU officials said.

Sources say EASA is leaning towards a three minute interval.

The EU is also trying to push within ICAO for the UN body to drop its 15-minute interval since it prefers a more flexible approach.

(Reuters)