UK company Inmarsat Plc offered free tracking devices for planes flying over oceans to prevent another Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 tragedy, the company announced Monday.
Inmarsat Plc, which provides mobile satellite communications, will offer free tracking services for 11,000 commercial passenger aircrafts. Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No debris or evidence of a crash site have been found as of yet.
Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said that the tracking devices are a relatively easy and cost-effective way to prevent a similar disaster.
"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," Pearce told the Associated Press.
The missing Malaysia plane was equipped with an Inmarsat satellite connection, but investigators were unable to detect the plane's location before the black box batteries died.
Inmarsat also said it will offer enhanced position reporting and a "black box in the cloud" service that allows the flight recorder to transmit information as soon as a plane deviates from its flight plan. Those services will be offered for a fee.
Nearly all of the world's long-haul, commercial aircrafts currently use Inmarsat's satellite connection. Pearce said the company had to act.
"In the wake of the loss of MH370, we believe this is simply the right thing to do," he said in a statement.
"Because of the universal nature of existing Inmarsat aviation services, our proposals can be implemented right away on all ocean-going commercial aircraft using equipment that is already installed."
Further communication, data, and security measures are expected to be discussed at the International Civil Aviation Organisation conference, which began today in Canada.
Officials say that Flight 370's last detected position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Perth, Australia. 239 people were on board.
