Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said on Friday that the European aircraft manufacturer was working towards replacing "black box" recorders with a system that transmits flight data via satellite.

"We are examining possibilities for improving the current system by other methods of collecting data," Enders was quoted as saying in the French daily Le Parisien.

"The most important flight data could for example be transmitted in real time by satellite as is already the case for information concerning aircraft maintenance," he said.

"That is a question we are working on with our partners and suppliers."

Commercial airliners are required to have two recorders, one that stores flight data and the other that records the conversation of the pilots, but the boxes' physical recovery is required to obtain the data.

Latest generation aircraft also transmit information via satellite during flight so mechanics are prepared to service planes upon their arrival.

Such maintenance data is the only information investigators have regarding Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which disappeared over the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people on board.

The wreckage of the Airbus 330 and the bodies of some of the passengers and crew were recovered in deep water 1 000 kilometres (600 miles) off Brazil's coast, but the black box flight recorders remain lost.

"To further improve the safety of air transport in the future we should be sure that in case of an accident we have the ability to recover all flight data," said Enders. - Sapa-AFP