LONDON, May 14 ― Inmarsat, the company whose satellites helped track the final route of missing Malaysian Airlines airliner MH370, has confirmed that it plans to offer a free, basic tracking service to passenger airlines globally.
The company announced on Monday (May 12) that the service would be offered to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft that are already equipped with an Inmarsat satellite connection. This includes virtually 100 per cent of the world's long-haul commercial fleet.
“In the wake of the loss of MH370, we believe this is simply the right thing to do,” Inmarsat Chief Executive Rupert Pearce was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.
“This offer responsibly, quickly and at little or no cost to the industry, addresses in part the problem brought to light by the recent tragic events around MH370.”
The company is also offering a “black box in the cloud” service. This will send data normally recorded by the jet’s black box to a central location such as an aviation safety authority. Information saved may include an aircraft’s actions and systems, as well as events in the cockpit. The system can be triggered by certain defined events such as an unapproved course deviation. ― Reuters
