China asks planes to report location every 15 minutes

A plane of Air China takes off at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, June 18, 2015. [Photo/IC]

China has asked all airplanes to send their location reports more frequently, according to Beijing Times.

The move is aimed at improving civil aviation safety by monitoring the location of planes.

It said all airliners need to send their longitude, latitude and height every 15 minutes or even less to the ground, said Civil Aviation Administration of China on Thursday.

Currently, planes do report their location, but now the interval time has been shortened.

Last year, 160 countries and regions decided to keep a radio frequency open for satellites tracking routes of airplanes after MH370 tragedy happened.

The agreement said that all airliners in the world are requested to report their location every 15 minutes.

China is planning to monitor all passenger jets in all operating conditions before 2020 and deploy trace and monitor system with proprietary intellectual property rights before 2025.