Pearl River Delta airspace integration planned by China Mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR

Hong Kong's Secretary for Transport and Housing, Eva Cheng, stated the Pearl River Delta (PRD) Air Traffic Management Planning and Implementation Working Group (comprised of the civil aviation authorising of China Mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR) have formulated an integrated plan to resolve regional airspace congestion (Xinhua, 20-Jan-2010). The plan encompasses measures to rationalise airspace design, enhance flight level distribution, standardise interface and protocols of ATC systems and establish extra civil aviation air routes for flights to/from the Northern and the Eastern regions of Mainland China. Full implementation of the plan is expected to enhance PRD airspace capacity to handle projected future air traffic growth. The three parties will progressively improve air-traffic operations in the short term, and rationalise airspace management, ATC and flight procedures over the PRD in the medium to long-term.