The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has stated its intentions to implement new measures and guidelines to allow improved tracking of aircraft after the second report for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 provided no new evidence regarding the aircraft’s location. ICAO plans to amend Annex 6 of the Chicago Convention, an internationally agreed upon set of standards, which outlines requirements regarding the operation of an aircraft. Airlines will be required to upgrade Cockpit Voice Recorders to extend recording time and install autonomous tracking systems that will transmit aircraft positioning information at more frequent intervals. ICAO has said that this will likely reduce crash site uncertainty and search and rescue times.

The final report for Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed into the Swiss Alps killing all 150 occupants on board on March 24th 2015, was released by the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for civil aviation safety (BEA) on March 13th 2016. The report confirms the initial speculations that the first officer deliberately flew the aircraft into terrain.

An investigation into the co-pilots medical history was conducted and identified that approximately one month before the accident the co-pilot had been diagnosed with psychosomatic disorder and had been prescribed anti-depressant medications by a psychotherapist. A toxicology report identified that a number of these medications were present in the co-pilots remains and therefore he was deemed unfit to fly at the time of the accident. The reports states that no preventative action could have been taken by authorities, as no effort was made by the co-pilot or anyone else to notify the airline of his condition.

The BEA was able to identify critical moments within the cockpit by analysing data taken from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). Sound analysis was able to determine the point in which the captain left the cockpit and also his several unsuccessful attempts to re-enter, due to the cockpit door locking system. The CVR also recorded the controlled breathing of the co-pilot, indicating he was conscious and made a deliberate effort put the aircraft into a steep descent. As a result of the findings, current procedures for pilot mental evaluations were revised, including if a threat to passenger safety outweighed the requirements of the medical confidentiality of pilots. Six safety recommendations were made by the BEA, which included additional monitoring of pilots with histories of psychological illness.

The Thai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has grounded two of its domestic carriers and revoked the aircraft registrations of another. The DCA grounded City Airways’ only aircraft after concerns were raised regarding the airline’s safety culture. Business Air’s only aircraft had its registration revoked just two weeks after it had been given permission to resume operations. The DCA granted the airline 30 days to acquire another aircraft and resume flights or it could be at risk of losing its Air Operators Certificate (AOC). Intira Airlines was also grounded in January after it was revealed that the airline had accrued over USD28.8Milliion in debt.