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The Civil Aviation Department, working with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), will host a regional Performance Based Navigation (PBN) implementation seminar today and tomorrow (February 1 and 2).
The seminar's main objective is to promote PBN knowledge and experience sharing, and to facilitate effective PBN implementation within the Asia Pacific region. It also provides an opportunity for all participants to exchange views and foster closer co-operation in the area of PBN.
PBN is a new concept in aviation which has been developed, based on the broad application and development of area navigation.
Addressing the opening session, the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Norman Lo, called for closer collaboration and co-operation to ensure harmonised and co-ordinated implementation of PBN within the region.
"PBN enables us to fully exploit the relevant benefits offered by satellite navigation technologies. In the early days, there were varying standards and requirements for the implementation of navigation specifications and a significant divergence existed between different geographical areas," Mr Lo said.
"With today's concept of PBN, it not only brings together, under one umbrella, a number of diverse navigation specifications including Area Navigation and Required Navigation Performance, but it also provides a framework of harmonised, modern navigation operational approval requirements that make full use of available navigation systems and aircraft capability."
Mr Lo said PBN would not only help to enhance aviation safety, but would also provide significant benefits in fuel savings, accessibility and operational flexibility in terminal areas and assist in addressing environmental problems such as emissions and noise.
Following the seminar, the sixth meeting of the ICAO PBN Task Force will be held in Hong Kong from February 3 to 5 to further discuss and review the regional PBN implementation issues.
The task force, comprising representatives from the ICAO, various civil aviation administrations, air navigation service providers, airline and pilot associations, flight procedure design and operations experts, was established in 2008 to lead the region in the development of a regional PBN implementation plan and to address the related PBN implementation issues.
Ends/Monday, February 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:01
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