Hong Kong aviation chief tries to allay flight fears over new air traffic control system
‘We don’t expect more issues’, Christmas travellers told after glitches
The aviation chief is confident there will be no Christmas flights chaos at the city’s airport in the wake of problems arising from a new air traffic control system.
Director-General of Civil Aviation Simon Li Tin-chui dismissed suggestions flights for the peak holiday season would be disrupted following glitches in the HK$1.5 billion system.
On Tuesday, in the worst incident, flights leaving the airport were halted for 15 minutes.
“We do expect issues which need to be optimised. However, we don’t expect more issues coming up,” Li said on Thursday.
Raytheon, the US manufacturer of the system, confirmed the failure of a key piece of technology, which is at the heart of giving real-time aircraft information to controllers.
Li said the findings of the company were consistent with the initial analysis of the Civil Aviation Department.