Boeing lobbies Asia on traffic management
Boeing's air traffic management systems division plans to begin discussions with major aviation services and infrastructure providers in Asia-Pacific next week, lobbying them on the need to develop a global solution to the growing problem of congested skies.
John Hayhurst, the division's Virginia-based president, was in China last week, sounding out the country's air traffic control managers on the strategy for future development.
'Our aim with the CAAC [General Administration for Civil Aviation in China] is to develop an air traffic management system for Chinese airspace and to enhance inter-operability from China at the same time. Its plans need to be expanded with more lofty goals,' he said.
Mr Hayhurst said the need for international and regional co-operation on air traffic management was critical if it was to keep pace with the growth in demand for air travel in a high-growth area such as Asia, in particular China.
'China has realised the need for more modern air traffic management', having invested heavily in recent years on infrastructure such as radar and communications, he said.
The CAAC has spent more than 700 million yuan (about HK$656.95 million) over the past few years building three control centres in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, which account for about 70 per cent of air traffic in China, with another two en route centres to be built over the next five years.
But coverage of the sparsely populated Western areas of China continued to lag, given the present technology, since ground-based radar could not work effectively in the more mountainous terrain, Mr Hayhurst said.
'China wants more space-based assets, such as satellite-tracking, which is the same as the Boeing vision,' he said.
Jane's, the leading aerospace industry source, said last year that an upgrade of China's air traffic management system would be required over the next 10 years. Mr Hayhurst said it was too early to calculate the costs involved.
