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In response to a press report today (Wednesday) on the Aeronautical Information Data Base System and the signing of the Letter of Agreement between Hong Kong and Shantou Air Traffic Control Units, the Civil Aviation Department would like to make the following explanations.

The Aeronautical Information Data Base system (AIDB) is a computer system used by the Civil Aviation Department to process aeronautical information for use by air traffic control staff. One of the functions is to check automatically the air routes flown by flights operating within Hong Kong airspace.

During Y2K transition period from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had implemented contingency routes in the Asia Pacific Region. In order to validate these special routes flown by aircraft, the AIDB system was put on manual checking mode to ensure that flights were accepted in accordance with the contingency arrangement.

The AIDB system has been switched back to the automatic mode after the Y2K rollover and it has been functioning smoothly since then.

A new Letter of Agreement (LOA) signed between Hong Kong and Shantou Air Traffic Control Units will come into effect on February 1, 2000. A LOA between two air traffic control units specifies the coordination procedures between them. These include handover position(s), cruising levels available, separation between aircraft, communication equipment and coordination requirements, etc.

The LOA between Hong Kong and Shantou has been in existence for many years. As a result of the enhanced radar capability in Shantou, improvements to the existing procedures are now possible and a new LOA has been concluded.

The enhancements include the provision of more cruising levels between Hong Kong and Shantou, the reduction of longitudinal separation between aircraft at the same level from 15 to 10 minutes, and the provision of more airspace for aircraft requiring weather deviation to the north on the air route east of Hong Kong. These improvement measures will increase the capacity as well as operating efficiency on the air route along the coast of the Mainland.

The air traffic control system in Hong Kong is ready to cope with all these improvement measures, while the air traffic controllers have also been thoroughly briefed to adopt these new procedures.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Department stressed that flight safety is always the prime objective of the Department, and every possible step is taken to ensure this is achieved. An extra 12.5 per cent will be deployed to work in the Air Traffic Control Centre and the Air Traffic Control Tower during the peak traffic period of the Chinese New Year to ensure safe, smooth and efficient air traffic operations.

End/Wednesday, January 26, 2000

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