MH370: Not to happen again, aviation chief tells Doha meeting

Saying that the mystery of the missing Boeing 777 was unprecedented, IATA Director General and Chief Executive Director Tony Tyler called on the aviation industry to focus on tracking aircraft rather than streaming data.

"Tracking aircraft is the most important and urgent first step in preventing another plane from disappearing," he said in what was surely a shocking incident for the aviation industry since the Malaysian aircraft carrying 239 crew and passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared without a trace on March 8.

He said that tracking the aircraft was something that could be done relatively easily.

In contrast, "if you start streaming data from 100,000 flights a day, you're going to end up with masses and masses of data and that may or may not be manageable," Tyler told reporters at the 70th IATA annual general meeting and World Air Transport Summit here Monday.

Tyler said the loss of MH370 points to an immediate need.

He said IATA, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and experts from around the world were working together to agree on the best options to improve the tracking of global aircraft.

A draft of recommendations is due to go to ICAO in September this year.

Tyler said it would be years before a system was adopted and it was not going to happen overnight.

He said some airlines could introduce tracking systems earlier but there needs to be a consistent global system and there was also no universal agreement on the issue.

MH370 went missing shortly after departing the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and remains missing despite an international search involving over two dozen countries, mainly in the Indian Ocean.

Comprehensive data is now guiding safety improvements.

IATA's Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) project is building the world's largest resource of operational information with data from a global spectrum of industry and government contributors, Tyler said.

"Our ultimate goal is to predict the potential for accidents and so ensure that they don't happen. This is not science fiction. Each new data contribution and every improvement in our analytical capabilities moves this closer to reality," he added.