Hong Kong aviation chief admits ‘more frequent’ glitches with new air traffic control system
In latest development, lawmaker says a plane disappeared from radar for two minutes last week
Hong Kong’s new, hi-tech, air traffic control system has seen more frequent technical glitches since it went live two weeks ago, the city’s aviation regulator has admitted for the first time.
As part of damage control, the Civil Aviation Department gave the media a tour of its multibillion-dollar technology and facilities at the airport on Friday, bringing out senior civil servants to defend the system from a barrage of recent criticism.
Director of Civil Aviation Simon Li Tin-chui said improvements were being worked on, amid doubts about the reliability and safety of the technology.
“It is not unusual for this kind of occurrence to be more frequent when the new system is in operation for the first few weeks. We hope through fine-tuning and enhancement the situation will improve,” Li said. “I would like to stress there are no safety implications.”
Li declined to detail all the problems the system had thrown up, saying he did not want to cause public panic, and dismissing the issues reported so far as “trivial”.