Aeronautical authorities from mainland China, Hong Kong and China held PRD air traffic management tripartite discussions to further refine and carry out the “PRD Region Air Space Planning and Implementation”

With the rapid economic development in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) Region, the residents have been increasing their outbound travels, leading to an immense increase in the development of the air transport market. Contrary to this market development is the limitation in air space and the complication in flight procedures in this Region. To cater for the future air services growth in the Region, the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR (HKCAD) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) hold regular meetings to coordinate air traffic management issues. The three parties met on 29 to 31 August 2011 in Zhuhai for the sixth supervisory working group meeting, in which they reviewed their work on the maximization of the air space resources, and agreed to commission the establishment of the multi-airport unified clearance system and conduct further studies on the unified QNH (defined as “barometric pressure adjusted to sea level”) for southern PRD.

In the meeting, the three parties reviewed their work progress on the “PRD Region Air Space Planning and Implementation (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”) in which they concluded that the Plan is feasible and plays a significant role in coping with the future air services need of the Region. The three sides agreed that they will enhance coordination in the operation level to ensure that the Plan will continue to be carried out in a smooth manner.

The three aeronautical authorities also discussed the preliminary study plan for the multi-airport unified clearance system in the Region. The purpose of establishing the system is to rationalize the clearance sequence for the departure flights and enhance the efficiency of the use of air space, so that flight delays in the airports can be reduced. As a well-organized information interchange platform is fundamental to the establishment of the unified clearance system, the management of immense data collected from each airport should be made prior to deciding on clearance sequence. To achieve this, the three parties agreed to define a detailed work schedule to carry out the task. In what regards the achievement from Macao on this aspect, Macau International Airport has completed the construction of a node connecting to the FA36 network of the Central & Southern Regional Administration of CAAC. The node will be officially connected to the FA36 network in September 2011. The FA36 network is used in the transmission of basic operational information about air traffic management and is useful for the establishment of the unified clearance system.

Furthermore, in accordance with the direction for a unified standard, the three parties discussed the study results of the unified QNH in southern PRD. They concluded that the adoption of the unified QNH is feasible and will therefore carry out in-depth studies and discussion on the relevant safety risk analysis and the concrete operation.

In the past, due to the lack of unified planning for the airports in the Region, the runways are intercrossing and have led to increased complication in the air traffic management in the Region, as well as restricted the growth of flight volume. In order to improve the environment for the air traffic management in the Region such that it can cope with the future development of the air transport market, ATMB, HKCAD and AACM started to plan for the creation of an efficient cooperation mechanism in 2004 and have then set up a supervisory working group and a technical group. With more than two years of efforts, the three parties completed in 2006 the drafting of the “PRD Region Air Space Planning and Implementation” targeting for the year 2020. In the short-term, medium term and long term phases and based on a unified plan and a unified standard, the three sides aim to gradually set up a rational air space structure, with facilities that are guaranteed to be sufficient, and in the operation mode that can be carried out smoothly, for the air traffic management system in this Region.

The Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR met on 29 to 31 August 2011 in Zhuhai for air traffic management tripartite discussions to coordinate among themselves on the maximization of the PRD air space resources.