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The civil aviation authorities of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao have made concerted efforts in establishing an additional handover point between the Hong Kong and Guangzhou Flight Information Regions (FIRs). Named "LANDA", the new handover point will deal with flights transiting through Hong Kong FIR and landing at Shenzhen with effect from September 22, thus achieving a further step in the continuing enhancement of the Pearl River Delta (PRD)'s airspace management.
Through the tripartite co-operation platform, the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) will continue working with the Mainland and Macao civil aviation authorities in formulating improvement measures, with a view to gradually enhancing the PRD's peripheral flight route structure and actively promoting co-operation and exchange in regional air traffic management to rationalise flight routes and flight procedures design. This will further enhance efficiency in the use of PRD airspace to cater for the ongoing rapid growth in the volume of air traffic across the region.
Presently, these flights for Shenzhen are transiting through the busiest airspace around Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). As the new handover point and its associated air routes are located away from this airspace sector, traffic complexity around the HKIA will be significantly reduced, thereby enhancing air traffic management efficiency.
After the introduction of this new handover point, the total number of handover points for flights operating through the PRD airspace will increase from the existing two entries (from Hong Kong to the Mainland) and one exit (from the Mainland to Hong Kong) to three entries and one exit (please refer to the attached photo). The new handover point will alleviate the burden on the existing handover points and around 18 per cent of the route capacity will be released for use by flights originating from Hong Kong for the Mainland. This is conducive to the continued growth of air traffic between the Mainland and Hong Kong.
The civil aviation authorities of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao will continue to study and implement enhancement measures to further rationalise the airspace design and management of the PRD region.
Moreover, with effect from July 1 this year, the traffic spacing requirement between flights on air route M750/B576 transiting through the Hong Kong and Taipei FIRs for South Korea has been reduced from the original 10 minutes to five minutes with a significant increase in the route's capacity.
CAD will continue to enhance airspace management efficiency and increase the capacity of air routes within the Hong Kong FIR so as to provide a safe and efficient service to the travelling public.
Ends/Friday, August 12, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:31
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