Missing MH370: Aviation Bodies Plan Flight-Tracking Procedures

International Aviation
Organisations including the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are brainstorming on how to establish a new flight tracking procedures in response to the loss of the Malaysian airline, which disappeared with its manifest of 239 persons on board, March 8, 2014.
IATA has confirmed that the Aircraft Tracking Taskforce (ATTF) is expected to deliver draft options for enhanced global aircraft tracking to the International Civil Aviation (ICAO) in September, leading to the presentation to the industry before year end.
Following the disappearance of MH370, IATA announced plans to establish an industry taskforce to develop recommendations to improve global flight tracking, noting that the commitment made at the time the taskforce announced was to have them available by the end of 2014.
The organisation invited ICAO and key stakeholders throughout the aviation industry to participate in the ATTF first meeting of the group held May 13, 2014, while another separate meeting was held in conjunction with IATA and ICAO on Special Multi disciplinary on Global Flight Tracking.
The outcome of the ICAO meeting was a consensus among member states and the international air transport industry sector on the near-term priority to track airline flights.  ICAO will also begin considering performance based international standards, on a priority basis, to ensure broader adoption of airline flight tracking across the aviation system.
“ICAO and IATA are working together to conduct a survey of vendors to identify options. Over the next few months, the ATTF will develop a set of performance-based recommendations to better ensure global aircraft tracking-meaning that there will likely be a number of options that airlines can consider”, IATA said.
These recommendations would be developed through an assessment of available products and services used for tracking commercial aircraft against specific criteria, including factors such as performance parameters, coverage, security and cost.