EU to impose compulsory flight tracking after MH370 disappearance

EurActiv reported on 17 September 2015 the intention of the European Commission to approve plans to madate flight tracking from take-off to landing on new aircraft from 2018, without specifying an interval for position updates.

According to the article, the Council of the European Union backed the proposal in July 2015 and the European Parliament was given until the 27 October 2015 to raise any objections.

Should no objections be found, the regulation was set to be formally adopted with airlines have three years to install tracking devices. Existing aircraft without the technology would not have to be retrofitted.

A separate report published by EurActiv on 23 September revealed that the UN agency for civil aviation (ICAO) was planning to delay until 2018 the implementation of rules that require airlines to track the location of their plans.

ESO: Background information: EU mulls introducing flight-tracking unilaterally http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-mulls-introducing-flight-tracking-unilaterally/

EurActiv, 23.09.15: Report: UN agency delays plane tracking proposal http://www.euractiv.com/sections/transport/un-agency-delays-plane-tracking-proposal-report-317866

ICAO: Global Tracking Initiatives http://www.icao.int/safety/globaltracking/Pages/Homepage.aspx

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