Hong Kong aviation authority orders investigation into air traffic control system after New Year’s Day hitch
- Individual workstations were ‘not responsive’, CAD says, while department spokesman says there was no risk to safety
Hong Kong’s aviation authority has told a contractor to investigate a brief hitch to the air traffic management system on the first day of the new year.
Individual workstations of its air traffic management system were “not responsive to commands” in the morning, Civil Aviation Department said in a statement released on Wednesday. The problem prompted technical staff to switch to a fallback system – identical to the original one – at 9.10am, it said.
A department spokesman said there were some temporary restrictions on departing flights, but “arrivals and [flights over the region] were not affected”.
There was no risk to safety, he added.
He said the air traffic control officers were able to maintain direct voice communication with pilots at all times, as well as monitor and obtain full information of all flights within Hong Kong airspace.
The main system was rebooted, checked by the department’s technical staff then used as a backup. The ultimate fallback system was not activated during the process.