Boeing’s Business Jet has become the first non-commercial aircraft to complete a North Atlantic flight equipped with a Future Air Navigation System (FANS).

The system is designed to provide real-time aircraft position reports and clearance requests for inflight changes to controllers, who can respond by sending text messages to be displayed on the flight deck computer screens.

“The ageing high-frequency voice radio method is heavily burdened with atmospheric interference that causes poor reception, and delays caused by the number of aircraft attempting to use the same frequencies,” said chief pilot Mike Hewitt.

“FANS clears the lines of communication and ultimately gives air traffic controllers better control of aircraft in oceanic air space,” he added.