Airbus CEO says disappearance of Flight 370 shows need for improved tracking systems

PARIS – The head of European jet maker Airbus has added his voice to calls for improving the systems used to track and locate aircraft and their data recorders, following the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

Fabrice Bregier says Airbus is working to develop deployable black boxes or other systems that could help investigators find the recorders following an accident or disappearance.

Bregier said Thursday: “We have to be able to find the black boxes, it’s indispensable.” He said increasing the frequency of automated messaging between aircraft and the ground would also help, and is possible with existing technology.

Airbus participated in the nearly two-year hunt for the A330 that crashed in the mid-Atlantic in 2009. Flight 370 was a Boeing 777.