(February 2001)  ACjet (Delta Connection) has signed with SITA to use their AIRCOM functionality beginning in March 2001. It is expected that they will only be seen on 136.85 in that case.

  (February 2001)  The US Air Force has been identified as a potential major ACARS user. This is in addition to the dozen or so aircraft currently online. To quote from the report "which plans to outfit 1,700 of its aircraft with FANS radios. As part of the service’s Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) modernization program, VHF AIRCOM would allow Air Force aircraft communications with civil air traffic control."

  (January 2001)  A new US frequency has been discovered, 136.700. This has been noted in use so far in the Chicago area.

  (January 2001)  Air France classic B747's (-100/200's series) have recently started to appear on ACARS.

  (January 2001)  More America West Airbuses are beginning to show up rapidly on ACARS.  Several new ones have been noted this month, especially with the A319's.

  (January 2001)  Are Southwest Airlines testing out ACARS ? Recent decodes from an ARINC test box lead us to believe that Southwest may indeed be evaluating ACARS on one of their B737-700's. Stay tuned ! 

   (October 2000)  America West A320's have started using ACARS. N654AW was noted over Chicago this month. Let's hope more show up soon. 

(September 2000)  Hoka have announced that they will shortly release revisions to some of their decoders that will allow the decoding of HF-ACARS.  Click on the News button on their website at: http://www.hoka.com

(September 2000)  ALL KLM  "classic" (-200SUD/-300) 747s are now active. PH-BUI was the latest, and last to come on line. 

(August  2000)  The first of two US Air Force C-25 (B747-200's) has been equipped with ACARS. These two aircraft use the call sign  "Air Force One" when in use by the President of the United States.  ARINC has announced that the second aircraft will be outfitted next year 

(August 2000)  ALL America West 757s are now active - still no Airbuses.

(July 2000)  Polar Cargo are now on ACARS. The first 747 (N920FT) was noted on July 7.

(July 2000)  America West continue to add 757s (no other types have been increased - i.e. the only other type noted has been the single 737 N335AW) with a total of 7 as of July 4.

(June 2000)  KLM "classic" (-200SUD/-300) 747s are now beginning to appear regulary on ACARS. So far 9 have been noted - leaving 4 yet to be noted.

(May 2000)  Gemini Air Cargo has acquired two ex-Brazilian MD-11's that are equipped with ACARS. Both have been noted on numerous occasions.

(April 2000)  American Trans Air expands it's use of ACARS. Additional B757's have been noted recently on ACARS. More in the short term ?

(April 2000)  America West expands it's use of ACARS. Additional B757's have been noted recently on ACARS. More in the short term ?

(February 2000)  New Dallas based Carrier Legend airways has joined ACARS. DC-9's have been decoded on their initial routes to Washington DC. They are, however, using their eventual registrations (N9..LG) even though the aircraft are carrying their current marks.  

(January 2000)  The Northwest Airlink carrier, Express Airlines 1 will join the ACARS system upon the implementation of their first Canadair RJ into service.  The initial RJ services are scheduled for April/May 2000.  No word on the other aircraft in their fleet. 

(December 1999)  ARINC has announced that America West and JetBlue will join the ACARS network. The announcement did not specify a date when the aircraft would be switched on to the system. Watch this page for more details. 

(December 1999)  Aloha 737-700 N738AL has been captured in Honolulu.  So far only uplinks have been captured. 

(December 1999)  Another Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 has been captured on the West coast. This time it is a -400 (N762AS) so it would appear that the rest of the fleet will be following soon. 

(November 1999)  The latest Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 (as of this writing!) has been a frequent capture on the West coast recently. It has been sending and receiving all "normal" messages so it is not an accident. Hopefully the rest follow. 

(November 1999)  VP-BAX is now using the correct SU prefix.

(October 1999)  The first Aeroflot B767 has been noted on ACARS. VP-BAV was decoded in Chicago in mid October.  VP-BAX  has also been noted over the UK, but using the Boeing airline code of BO****. 

(October 1999)  More regional jets to join ACARS !  Flight International is reporting that Comair will evaluate a scaled down version of ACARS (OOOI messages only) on 2 Canadair RJs. Continental Express is also reported by ATW magazine to be introducing ACARS on its EMB-135/145 fleet very shortly.  The Continental aircraft have had the equipment installed on the aircraft, but collared from use, since the introduction of the first EMB-145 into the fleet. 

(October 1999)  Detroit based Spirit Airlines has one of its MD-80's equipped with ACARS. More news to follow if others come on line.  

(October 1999)  Logs from our NY correspondent contain decodes from the first American Trans Air aircraft on ACARS.  B757, N523AT was noted with a number of transmissions.  N523AT was delivered to ATA from Boeing in late September, and is their latest a/c until N524AT is delivered in October. More to follow if other a/c from ATA show up in logs. 

(September 1999)  Flight International magazine have reported that Polar Air Cargo will be next on line with ACARS. Stay tuned.  

(September 1999)  Tower Air continues its implementation of ACARS. Two more B747's have been noted this month. 

(September 1999)  Skywest Embraer-120's have been noted on San Francisco logs.  Skywest runs mostly US west coast flights for United Express and Delta Connection. No sign of the Canadair RJ's yet.  

(September 1999) The long rumored transmission of ACARS via HF is now confirmed.  ACARS transmissions have been heard, but not successfully decoded,  on frequency 11312 from a station based in River Head NY.  There are quite a few stations transmitting ACARS on HF.  A complete list of stations can be found via the Black Cat Systems web page, (not related in any way to ACARS-Link).   According to Black Cat Systems:

".........., each HF=Datalink ground station broadcasts system management uplink packets ('squitters') every 32 seconds on 3 or more active frequencies. Aircraft can measure the quality of each channel and use this info to select and automatically tune to a frequency which will allow error-free transmission with adaptive rates of 150, 300, 600, 1200 and 1800 bps. A network of 9-14 HF=Datalink ground stations will extend the coverage of VHF ACARS networks on a world wide basis to over-water flights including air routes over the Atlantic, North Pole, S. America, Africa, the Pacific and Asia."

The squitters were clearly audible on 11312Khz here in Chicago. The sound of the transmissions are different from VHF , most notably the tone that starts each burst. More information to follow as we find out more about this.   

(August 1999) The first China Airlines B747-400F is on ACARS.  Using an Atlas Air flight number, N498MC was decoded operating China Airlines 1313 out of Chicago on August 31. 

(August 1999) Sun Country have started using ACARS.  To date, all of the DC-10's have been decoded, and most of the B727's are now functional.

(August 1999) Tower Air have recently been noted testing ACARS.  B747, N624FF has been noted in North America and in Europe. 

(August 1999) Rumors continue about Alitalia signing up for ACARS.  If anyone can confirm, please contact us. 

(July 1999) Pakistan Airlines B747-300's have been showing up on ACARS.  The aircraft which were purchased from Cathay Pacific have been noted as the first B747's in the Pakistan fleet to use ACARS. 

(July 1999) THY A340 on ACARS! TC-JIH has been noted on ACARS over the past two month.  Hopefully more to follow.....

(July 1999) KLM B747-300's are still testing ACARS before going on-line.  Look for these aircraft to appear in logs soon.

(July 1999) Air India have begun to enable the rest of their B747-400's on ACARS. Originally only VT-EVA and VT-EVB have been noted and very sporadically.  Now, two more B747-400's have been noted, and we guess that the rest will be on-line soon.

(July 1999) Korean Air are in the process of installing ACARS on the remaining aircraft in their fleet. This is being done as part of an overall effort to improve the safety record of the airline. All of the B747-400 freighters are now operational on ACARS.