Ryanair initiates satellite flight tracking

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite low fares airline, today (8 May) announced the deployment of GlobalBeacon, a live flight monitoring platform that combines FlightAware’s data processing capabilities and web-interface with global flight tracking coverage from Aireon.

The Aireon network tracks aircraft via their ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) out antennas, which are mandated in many parts of the world including throughout Europe. This enables most airlines and aircraft operators to take advantage of GlobalBeacon without requiring additional equipment.

All airlines operating in Europe are now required by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to track their aircraft at a frequency of one position every 15 minutes during normal operations. It is expected that by 2021, they will need to receive one position every minute if an aircraft is in distress. In the event of an incident, this will improve response efficiency by inherently confining the search and rescue radius to an area of 11 kilometers. The new EASA requirements are based on the Global Aeronautical Distress & Safety System (GADSS), which was created by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) largely in response to the loss of flights AF447 and MH370.