News Backgrounder
Pacific partners first to meet new tracking targets
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is committed to recommendations for a 15-minute aircraft flight tracking standard, but several carriers and ATM providers are already operating systems that meet the new rules.
October 1st 2015
It will be sometime before every commercial aircraft flying across the globe will be tracked every 15 minutes, but in the Asia-Pacific, three regulators are already meeting the ICAO standard, planned for global implementation by 2018. Read More »
Passengers flying over the Pacific Ocean between Australia, New Zealand and the United States can now be secure in the knowledge that their flights are being tracked more than four times an hour, Airservices Australia has announced.
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| Many Asia-Pacific airlines have increased their tracking procedures to every 15 minutes ahead of the ICAO deadline of November 2016 |
Since June, Australian, New Zealand and U.S. air traffic controllers have used existing Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract (ADS-C) technology to track aircraft across the Pacific every 14 minutes, more than halving the previous tracking interval of every 30-40 minutes.
As a result of the new procedures, flights in the Oceania region are among the first in the world to meet ICAO’s recommendation for tracking oceanic flights every 15 minutes or less years ahead of the deadline.
To comply, the airlines use communications technologies already onboard modern aircraft, including the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) datalink, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract (ADS-C) application of the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) that airlines use for oceanic ATC communications.
The upgraded tracking system is the product of co-operation between Airservices Australia, Airways New Zealand and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said Airservices executive general manager air traffic control, Greg Hood.
“It is rewarding to see Airservices’ close cooperation with New Zealand and the U.S. result in this boost to passenger confidence in the safety of flying over vast expanses of oceans such as the Pacific,” he said.
Airservices was one of the first ATM operators to trial more frequent satellite flight tracking when it conducted an initial proof-of-concept trial last January. The 14-minute standard was extended to all Australian airspace by the end of May. Airways New Zealand introduced enhanced tracking at the same time. The FAA followed suit in U.S. Pacific airspace at the end of June. Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation recently implemented more frequent aircraft tracking in its airspace using the same technology.
Many Asia-Pacific airlines have upgraded their tracking capabilities ahead of any formal deadlines, including ICAO’s rule on 15 minute tracking. Among carriers using SITA OnAir’s FlightTracker are Malaysia Airlines Berhad, Singapore Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, AirAsia India and Air Costa, also in India.
The FlightTracker technology was developed for airlines to meet proposed tracking guidelines without the cost of significant aircraft modifications. It uses multiple data sources, including air traffic control radar data, terrestrial and satellite feeds and an airline’s flight plans to provide real-time aircraft position monitoring over remote and oceanic regions.
“By adding ADS-B, ADS-C, FANS, ACARS position reporting, along with air traffic control, the system provides clearer, more precise location of the aircraft. It also supports operators in managing flight paths for efficiencies and weather avoidance,” said SITA OnAir commercial director for the Americas, Larry Thomas.
Airlines can also access information to set up parameters of their own if an aircraft deviates from its pre-determined flight path.
SITA isn’t alone in introducing improvements to tracking systems. Global technology provider, Sabre Corporation, last month began offering clients enhanced capabilities on its AirCentre Flight Explorer solution, providing real-time data for accurate decision-making in flight operations. The flagship feature, Fleet Monitor, builds on existing airport and flight monitoring capabilities to give airlines a comprehensive dashboard view of their entire fleets.
“As part of our strategy and commitment to provide our customers with intuitive flight management solutions, Flight Explorer delivers actionable, real-time information at the key moment of decision making,” said Kamal Qatato, vice president of Sabre AirCentre, which provides software for airline operations.
“For example, if a plane goes off route or does not report its position within a few minutes, the airline will be alerted and escalation can begin instantly,” he said.
Iridium Communications plans to have 66 new satellites orbiting the planet within three years. Its NEXT constellation will be able to receive an airplane’s location signal every few seconds. The company’s satellites gather information from equipment in the aircraft cockpit. The satellites are monitored in Virginia in the U.S. with a second centre for emergency operations being built near Shannon Airport in Ireland.
Last month, Inmarsat launched the third of its Global Express (GX) constellation of satellites - Inmarsat-5 F3 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a key step towards delivering global commercial service introduction of GX services by the end of this year.
The $1.6 billion GX program is “the first and only global broadband service designed, and now deployed, for the aviation industry”, said Leo Mondale, president of Inmarsat Aviation. “The successful launch and early deployment of Inmarsat-5 F3 is a huge milestone for Inmarsat Aviation. GX Aviation is poised to transform aviation connectivity. It replaces the marginal solutions adapted around infrastructures that were never intended to serve aircraft.”
