28 WINGS | March/April 2015 WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM
accidents as opposed to actually prevent-
ing them, there is a delicate calculus to be
conducted in balancing the eventualities
of locating a rare, lost aircraft versus in-
vestments that make tangible improve-
ments to safety and efficiency.
While ICAO’s 12th Air Navigation
Conference in 2012 recommended ex-
tending surveillance through satellite-
based ADS-B, Thoma emphasizes that
airlines would “balk” if required to make
any additional investments beyond what
they had already put in place.
Cyriel Kronenburg, Aireon’s Vice-
President of Sales and Marketing, ex-
plains that Aireon was set up to provide
real-time surveillance, while leveraging
equipment that operators will already
have on-board by way of FAA and Eu-
ropean ADS-B mandates. “We want to
offer surveillance throughout the world
for ATC providers with the clear goal of
creating additional efficiency and safety
for the airlines,” he says. “But when you
have surveillance, of course you can offer
tracking.”
In the wake of MH370, and the callsfor aircraft tracking to be improved, Air-
eon and NAV CANADA announced the
creation of the Aireon Aircraft Locating
and Emergency Response Tracking ser-
vice, dubbed Aireon ALERT.
Once fully deployed by 2018, Aireon
ALERT will allow authorized agencies
to request the last position and track of
any ADS-B equipped aircraft, anywhere
in the world. However, Thoma insists
that this was never part of the economic
incentive for creating Aireon. “Our busi-
ness is not to find an occasional missing
aircraft,” he says. Instead, Aireon ALERT
will be offered as a free public service,
because, as Thoma puts it, “it’s the right
thing to do.”Space-based ADS-B
The fundamental business model of Air-
eon will be to provide real-time surveil-
lance capabilities that will improve safety
and efficiency for air traffic control. “It
won’t require additional investment by
ANSPs who are already customers of
Aireon services,” says Thoma. Currently,
five ANSPs are signed on as subscribersTHE BENEFITS
OF SPACE-
BASED
ADS-B
Real-time, global surveillance Improved situational awareness Improved conflict detection More flexibility in routings and
altitudes Significant fuel and GHG savings Global aircraft trackingSource: NAV CANADAThe North Atlantic as seen on a controller’s screen in Gander. Aireon is projected to save airlines $125 million in fuel over the North Atlantic in the first year
alone.
PHOTO: NAV CANADA AND AERION