Flight Tracking

EU to impose aircraft tracking as aviation community takes too long

The European Union wants to make flight tracking mandatory as the aviation community moves too slowly to decide on the technology widely discussed since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 

According to Reuters, the European Commission has presented European airlines with requirements for the new system, largely based on satellite technology to enable real-time aircraft monitoring in areas beyond the reach of ground-based radars. 

However, the aviation community has hit back at the commission, urging it to wait for the outcome of the negotiations overseen by the UN's aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). 

Calls for mandating satellite-based real-time aircraft tracking were first heard after the tragic crash of an Air France jet in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 and the voices regained strength following the MH370 disaster this year.