This change will enable “real-time tracking of aircraft anywhere in the world”, said Francois Rancy, director of the Radiocommunication Bureau of the UN’s global Telecommunication Union (ITU).
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“In reaching this agreement at [the conference], ITU has responded in record time to the expectations of the global community on the major issue concerning global flight tracking”, said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao in a statement.
“In reaching this agreement …”
The agreement by the World Radiocommunciation Conference (WRC) means that satellites will be able to receive transmissions, known as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), that aircraft now send only to other aircraft and to ground stations.
A spokesman for Transport Minister Warren Truss said the deal struck in Geneva this week was “another step in facilitating enhanced global flight tracking of civil aircraft operations”.
Representatives of more than 160 nations attended the conference.
The new system is expected to be fully implemented in 2017. Under the current system of ground-based tracking, about 70 percent of the world’s surface is uncovered, primarily over oceans.
Relatives of Chinese passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 light candles in a prayer room in Beijing, China, Friday, April 4, 2014.
In its special meeting on global flight tracking, which took place in Montréal, 12-13 May 2014, ICAO encouraged ITU to take urgent action to provide the necessary spectrum allocations for satellites to support emerging aviation needs. According to the United Nations guidelines, the planes would send their position at least once every 15 minutes, or more often in case of emergency.
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“The WRC’s action today will enable better tracking and location of aircraft that otherwise could disappear from terrestrial tracking systems”, said U.S. Ambassador Decker Anstrom, who is leading the US delegation at the conference. In July, a wing component was found on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Worldwide civil aviation regulator ICAO has pushed for satellite tracking of plane, so long as present security measures aren’t jeopardized.
