Airline operators asked to install global tracking of flights

KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has directed all airline operators to equip their aircrafts with global tracking to provide early notice of abnormal flight behaviour, an official said on Friday.
The directives have been issued in line with the amendments to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines.
Following the disappearance of Malaysia Airline Flight MH-370, a special multidisciplinary meeting regarding Global Flight Tracking was held at the ICAO Headquarters from May 12 to 13, 2014, the official said.
The multidisciplinary meeting concluded that the global tracking of airline flights should be pursued as a matter of priority to provide early notice of, and response to abnormal flight behaviour.
The CAA directives have been issued to the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Shaheen Air International, Airblue Limited and Air Indus (Pvt) Limited for which the implementation deadline is November 12, 2015, the official said.
Sources said the directives have been conveyed to the airline operators after a lapse of nine months. Being a part of the ICAO and having all reference and guidance, the CAA should have conveyed such a significant requirement much earlier.
Now, the local airlines have eight months to implement the global tracking of airline flights, the sources said.
Malaysia Airline flight MH370 went missing with all 239 people on board on March 8, 2014.
The flight departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 8, 2014 and was due to arrive in Beijing. Malaysia Airlines said the plane lost contact less than an hour after the takeoff. No distress signal or message was sent.
Later, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director general of Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation, officially declared that all passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 lost their lives in an accident.