Malaysia Airlines To Get Enhanced Flight Tracking

Malaysia Airlines will be the first airline customer to get access to global flight tracking data from an enhanced system developed by SITAONAIR and Aireon.

Under the agreement, all Malaysia Airlines aircraft will have access to minute-by-minute data, delivered by SITAONAIR’s Aircom FlightTracker, augmented by adding space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data from Aireon to the existing data set.

The data will allow the airline to receive real-time position updates of its airborne fleet. The enhanced system will also fill in any data feed coverage gaps, particularly over oceanic and remote airspace.

The Aireon service will be operational in 2018, shortly after the launch of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation.

“Malaysia Airlines has taken a lead role in the industry since the tragic events of 2014. Real-time, global flight tracking, anywhere on the planet will further its safety goals, by allowing Malaysia Airlines to track its aircraft anytime, anywhere,” Aireon chief executive Don Thoma said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew onboard on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Investigators believe the plane was deliberately flown thousands of miles off course before crashing into the southern Indian Ocean off Australia. The underwater search for the aircraft was suspended in January with no sign of the wreckage of the Boeing 777 found.