The Director-General of the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Mr Che Jinjun; the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Simon Li; and the President of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Mr Chan Weng-hong, attended the Pearl River Delta (PRD) Region Air Traffic Management Planning and Implementation Tripartite Working Group (TWG) high-level meeting in Hangzhou today (July 4). They were briefed on the work progress of the Airspace Management Technical Sub-group and the Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Technical Sub-group under the TWG, and discussed measures to enhance the efficiency of airspace management and regional ATFM in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
At the meeting, the senior management of the three parties agreed that progress has been made in a number of areas since the last meeting in September 2018. Firstly, with regard to airspace optimisation and air traffic management enhancement, the Airspace Management Technical Sub-group has just accomplished the first stage of Fast Time Simulation (FTS) work of modelling and simulation of the airspace and air traffic in the GBA with the use of the FTS software. Based on the current airspace operation integrating with the flight data, a model was constructed with a high degree of resemblance to the genuine ones. In the next stage, the TWG will make use of the FTS software to carry out assessment and analysis and will complete the simulation work this year. The TWG will formulate specific measures to further optimise airspace and air traffic management based on the results of the assessment and analysis.
The TWG is also committed to adopting a multi-pronged approach to improve the efficiency of ATFM in the region. Since the full utilisation of Route M503 last year, the overall capacity of the air routes between Hong Kong and Shanghai Pudong International Airport has been enhanced. In addition to the strengthening of the ATFM coordination mechanism, the on-time performance of flights departing from Hong Kong to the Mainland has shown improvement. The TWG will continue to study the gradual increase in the usage rates of air routes connecting Hong Kong, Macao and eastern region of the Mainland and improve the ATFM coordination mechanism to cater for inclement weather affecting an extensive area, so as to meet the growing demand for air traffic in the region in the long run.
Mr Li said that the TWG has made encouraging progress in various aspects. With the support of the CAAC ATMB, the TWG will continue to take forward ATM enhancement measures to progressively achieve the ultimate target runway capacity of 102 air traffic movements per hour under the Three-Runway System at Hong Kong International Airport and support a sustainable development of other airports in the region, and promote the healthy development of the air transport industry in the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, so as to achieve greater synergy in the GBA's airspace and create an airport economic area with mutual benefit and international influence.
Follow this news feed: East Asia