**********************************************************
Representatives from the Transport and Housing Bureau and the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Norman Lo, today (March 23) met with the Director General of the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Mr Che Jinjun, in Hong Kong to exchange views on various issues regarding the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, including enhancement of flight procedures and airspace structure, and optimisation of the airspace utilisation in the region, and to pave the way for further high-level co-operation in the future on an ongoing basis.
During the meeting, representatives from the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) briefed the participants on the latest developments of the three-runway system (3RS) at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Mr Che said that the ATMB of the CAAC has all along strongly supported the airspace co-ordination work for the development of a new runway at the HKIA to strengthen Hong Kong's position as an international transport centre and to reinforce the HKIA as an international aviation hub.
With regard to the management and utilisation of the PRD airspace resources, Mr Che noted that the ATMB of the CAAC would continue to promote synergy and foster co-operation through the tripartite co-ordination mechanism, which comprises the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, in the aim of pushing forward the implementation of all airspace enhancement measures and achieving the ultimate target of implementing the Pearl River Delta Region Air Traffic Management Planning and Implementation Plan (the Plan) progressively in a gradual and orderly manner. This would bring about healthy and orderly development of the airports in the PRD region and give full play to the unique strengths of the region. This would also enable the 3RS of the HKIA to maximise its potential and to achieve the target runway capacity of 102 air traffic movements per hour in the long run.
Mr Lo said that the State Council issued a guideline last week on promoting co-operation within the pan-PRD region which clearly stated that the Central People's Government supports the development of the 3RS at the HKIA to reinforce Hong Kong's position as an international aviation hub and for the closer co-operation between the HKIA and its neighbouring airports in the Mainland. The guideline also clearly supports the co-ordinated management and utilisation of pan-PRD airspace resources.
The meeting today also reaffirmed the positive impacts of the new air routes and associated additional handover point for traffic to and from the eastern part of the Mainland which were established in January this year, which have helped to enhance the number of flights between Hong Kong and the Mainland. In addition, the meeting also confirmed the enhanced tripartite high-level co-ordination mechanism. Representatives of the Mainland and Hong Kong also explored ways to improve the on-time performance of airlines.
The CAD, as in the past, will continue to proactively promote exchanges and co-operation on PRD region air traffic management, to pursue via the Tripartite Working Group various air traffic control and airspace enhancement measures as set out in the Plan to cope with the sustained growth of air traffic in the region and to meet the future development needs of all airports in the region.
Ends/Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:55
NNNN
