Business aircraft owners and operators are being invited by FlightAware (Booth 4863) to track aircraft on the company’s website as it moves towards being able to provide position information anywhere on the planet via a data-feed agreement signed in September with Aireon, a unit of satellite communications company Iridium.

Initially, the two companies announced that they would use the Iridium Next constellation, which will be deployed by the end of 2017 by SpaceX, to help airlines and large-cabin business jet operators to track their aircraft to meet the new ICAO global tracking mandate.

The secret to enabling global tracking is that Aireon is incorporating ADS-B receivers in all 72 Iridium Next satellites. The 66 satellites and six spare satellites will be placed in low-Earth orbit to gradually upgrade the existing constellation, which unlike Inmarsat can offer coverage even over the poles.

Daniel Baker, CEO of Houston, Texas-based FlightAware, said business aviation would benefit by being able to track their aircraft worldwide, with position updates every eight seconds. All the aircraft needs is a top-mounted ADS-B antenna, he said, along with a Mode S transponder with extended squitter, which most business aircraft and airliners already have.

“They can sign up for Aireon free and benefit from increasing coverage as the [Iridium Next] network grows,” said Baker. “SpaceX plans to launch 10 satellites every 60 to 90 days through the end of 2017, so there will be full coverage by 2018,” Baker added. The cost to operators once the network is fully in place will only be $100 per month per aircraft they list, and operators can choose their own privacy settings. This is the case now also, if operators do not wish their aircraft positions to be publicly available through FlightAware, if they subscribe to FlightAware Global, which is $80 per aircraft per month. So the eventual cost of the service, including Aireon, will be only $180 per aircraft a month, said Baker.

He described the tie-up with Aireon as “an absolute breakthrough” in being able to track aircraft globally, and he suggested it would be of particular interest outside the U.S. where ADS-B receivers tend not to be widely available.