Flight limitations in Pearl River Delta adding millions to fuel costs
The central government should consider opening up military airspace and introducing integrated air-traffic management to ease air congestion in the Pearl River Delta region, researchers have said.
The suggestions were made in a Chinese University study that found congestion above the region's five airports costs airlines hundreds of millions of dollars in extra fuel costs - partly as a result of having to constantly switch between three air-traffic control centres.
The airports at Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou, are served by air-navigation services in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Hong Kong.
'Aircraft flying near or across sector boundaries are frequently delayed as they are transferred from one controlling facility to another,' the paper says.
It says more runways will not necessarily provide more capacity if the airspace congestion cannot be solved.