Through Aireon’s satellites which are currently being launched, it will be possible to track any aircraft radiating ADS-B worldwide from your smartphone or any other Flightaware app:
https://de.flightaware.com/aireon/
What is the business model here?
It looks likely this is driven by the post-MH370 ICAO aircraft tracking mandate. I don’t know how far that got but fairly obviously global tracking is a requirement otherwise anybody could “do an MH370” just with one rogue pilot (or cabin crew member who gets in the cockpit while the other pilot is in the toilet), and nobody will find out what happened.
Inmarsat were going to be a key player in this but their sats are geostationary.
This sounds like it is running on the back of the Iridium network.
Airlines don’t want to pay for this any more than is absolutely necessary…
Whether the data will be available to the public is a different topic. Probably not, otherwise you won’t be able to charge an airline for tracking their planes for management purposes.
Peter there is a fair amount of info on the link Rwy20 provided. No it will not be free. It is just piggybacking on the new generation of iridium NEXT satellites.
Peter wrote:
Whether the data will be available to the public is a different topic. Probably not
On the page that I linked to, it says:
Will the space-based ADS-B data be available for free on FlightAware.com?
FlightAware will soon launch a new, free Aireon map portal for viewing space-based ADS-B data, and we are exploring a number of ways to distribute this data. But because this is an extremely expensive endeavor, our initial focus is on incorporating the data into commercial products to fund the project.
Throughout this process, we will continue to offer and improve our free network of PiAware and FlightFeeders that track aircraft via ground-based ADS-B receivers.
We don’t know the details of how that will look, and how they will make it inferior to their commercial products. But depending on the price for the data feed and the licences offered, they may also not remain the only flight tracking service to incorporate this data.
Aireon provides global flight tracking with 50% satellites online
Aireon is a joint venture between the Canadian air traffic control and Iridium satellite communications company. Iridium have fitted ADS-B receivers to their latest generation of low earth orbits satellites, so they can pickup ADS-B from anywhere on the planet. The datafeed is streamed to ANSPs (Air Traffic Control) worldwide (for a fee). It will be of particular use in areas where there is poor radar coverage (Canada, Australia) and probably also work better at lower levels than many terrestrial radars. An agreement with FlightAware means that anyone can view the current track of any ADS-B aircraft worldwide, even when mid-Atlantic.
With 50% of Iridium Next satellites now operational, the results are already quite impressive. See the before/after charts below.
Half the operational satellites were launched by end 2017. Another four Space-X launches in 2018 each with 5 Iridium satellites will complete the system.
My question is what might this mean for GA? Aireon (either directly or via FlightAware) could provide low cost feeds to airports, airfields etc. that provide an alternative to expensive SSR or their own primary radar. It would mean that more GA aircraft might need (or might want) to become ADS-B equipped, but the cost of doing that continues to come down dramatically as a result of the FAA 2020 mandate. It may be seen as most relevant for IFR, eg when making instrument approaches into non-ATC airfields. Others may think this is only relevant for the handful of GA pilots that venture outside geographical radar coverage, but the these maps distort (ie overstate) true radar coverage at lower levels and in hilly/mountainous terrain.
UPDATE: I just read that the system updates to FlightAware once per minute, which limits usefulness for airfield approaches. But better than nothing. There may be faster feeds available directly from Aireon but I can’t find any documentation on that.
I think this is an interesting side benefit for GA. Free emergency surveillance worldwide.
Is there a market in aircraft tracking, for GA and bizjets? I would think most people, especially bizjets, positively don’t want to be tracked! Especially the businessmen (visiting customers) and charter operators (who don’t want everyone to know who they are carrying especially as the passenger(s) might have got multiple quotes).
OTOH satellite surveillance of ADS-B emissions had to come, after MH370. They will probably make sure the crew cannot turn it off, too 
Peter wrote:
Is there a market in aircraft tracking, for GA and bizjets? I would think most people, especially bizjets, positively don’t want to be tracked! Especially the businessmen (visiting customers) and charter operators (who don’t want everyone to know who they are carrying especially as the passenger(s) might have got multiple quotes).
I don’t know what you mean by a market. It is essentially global FR24 with emergency monitoring and alerting if you sign up. I assume you can ask for your tail number to be blocked as with terrestrial services.
I don’t know what you mean by a market.
The case for the funding. This is costing somebody hundreds of millions at least. It can’t be FR24 because they are making “only” millions. We have some old threads on FR24 finances, in the various “ADS-B and privacy” discussions.
I believe airliners are required to have a solution after the Malaysian loss and the ANSPs are also incentivised for things like North Atlantic and Pacific airspace management.
