Plane maker Airbus has launched a study into flight data recovery, including – but not limited to – extended data transmission for commercial aircraft, so that in the event of an accident, critical flight information can be recovered and released to the investigating authorities.

The move comes in the wake of two recent crashes involving Airbus aircraft, including the Air France A330 which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean killing all on board. The cause of that accident has not been established, because the black box data was not recovered.

“Gathering information from accidents is vitally important to further improve the safety of flying,” said Tom Enders, president and chief executive officer of Airbus. “Various technical means for reinforcing flight data recovery and data transmission to ground centres are available. We will now study different options for viable commercial solutions, including those where our experience with real-time data transmission from our own test aircraft could support the further development of such solutions.”