Pearl River Delta plan passed

The fourth meeting of the Pearl River Delta Area Air Traffic Management Program and Implementation Special Working Group was held on February 6 and attended by representatives from the Air Traffic Management Bureaus of Guilin and Central South, Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, Macao Civil Aviation Authority and the Office of National Airspace Management Commission. At the meeting, China, Hong Kong and Macao passed the Pearl River Delta Area Air Traffic Management Program and Implementation Plan and discussed the working plan to ease the air traffic in the PRD. There are five large civil airports in the PRD: Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Macao. The PRD is considered to have the most complicated airspace in the world. With airports crowding the area, and competing in a small airspace, serious flight delays have occurred in the area in recent years. In 2004, China, Hong Kong and Macao began organizing groups to study the air traffic management in the PRD. The implementation plan is a product of more than 10 coordination meetings at various levels over the last three years. The plan seeks the trilateral coordinated control operation of the PRD. The development program includes terminal area airspace structure, control operation standards and program. The plan is expected to meet the requirements of the development of the PRD in 2020.