Malaysia Airlines is now the world’s first carrier to have all its aircraft tracked globally with orbiting satellites, three years after the disappearance of one of its planes and 239 passengers and crew on board.
The carrier signed the agreement for the satellite tracking with three aerospace companies, Aireon, SITAONAIR, and FlightAware. This service will allow the carrier to track its flights anywhere in the world, from remote oceans to polar regions, Bloomberg reported, citing a press release from Aireon.
“Real-time global aircraft tracking has long been a goal of the aviation community. We are proud to be the first airline to adopt this solution," Malaysia Airlines Chief Operating Officer Izham Ismail said in the statement.
Malaysia Airlines said the new space-based tracking system will be ready by 2018. Different from the current system which sends signals from planes to land-based stations that may lose signal over oceans, the new service will provide global coverage with signals sent to satellites.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, and a two-year search covering an area from Southeast Asia to the coast of Africa has found neither the main body of the aircraft nor any of the 239 people on the flight.
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