The tripartite technical group meeting of Airspace Management among the Mainland of China, Hong Kong and Macau was held in Shenzhen on 26th to 27th April 2023, with a total of 35 representatives and experts to attend. As Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM) representatives from Air Traffic Services Division (ATS) of Operations Branch of Airport Operations Department to participate the meeting together with the representatives from Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM).

The tripartite airspace management technical group of the Mainland of China, Hong Kong and Macau have studied the airspace structure and management of the Pearl River Delta Area, later expanded to Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau (GHM) Greater Bay Area (GBA), for nearly 20 years and had reached a wide range of consensus. In order to adapt to the new operational environment, the tripartite airspace management technical group established three subgroups last year, namely the airspace planning subgroup, the new technology application subgroup and the simulator evaluation subgroup. These three subgroups actively established a collaborative spirit of shared responsibility and win-win cooperation. By innovating the GBA airspace planning mechanism, applying new technology and establishing new baseline model platform for assessment, all parties aim to establish a safe and efficient tripartite beneficial solution for the GBA airspace.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the tripartite technical group held a total of 10 online meetings. This was the first tripartite on-site meeting after the cancellation of epidemic restrictions. The meeting summarized the works done by technical group last year and reached a consensus on the adjustment of some outer air routes, new transfer points and transfer altitude in the GBA, etc. This laid a good foundation for all parties to strengthen airspace coordination and air traffic management collaboration, optimize airspace structure, enhance air traffic management capacity of the entire Bay area. During the meeting, the Airspace Management Center of the Air Traffic Management Bureau of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) shared the research and progress of the new aviation technology EoR (Established on Required Navigational Performance) for the Beijing Capital International Airport, and made a detailed introduction on the dependent approach and risk assessment of RNP AR (Required Navigational Performance - Authorization Required) technology application for multiple runways. The Aviation Data Communication Corporation introduced the modeling standards of the baseline model, new evaluation indicators and various data requirements. CAM representative Mr. Hoover Hu, Senior Head of Air Traffic Services (ATS) Division of Operations Branch of Airport Operations Department (AOD) of CAM shared the implementation and operation management experience of RNP AR flight procedures of Runway 16 at Macau International Airport (MIA). He introduced that since the official implementation of the RNP AR flight procedure in 2019, the authorized local operator - Air Macau had benefited from the immense reduce in number of go-arounds resulting from unfavorable weather conditions when performing landings at Runway 16. The new procedures greatly enhanced operational safety and efficiency to achieve economic benefits for the operator. All meeting participants showed great interest in it and MIA is willing to share more with others on RNP AR related topics such as procedure design, certification, training, safety assessment, etc. It is hoped that to contribute for better development of the GBA aviation industry. At the end of the meeting, the working schedule and relevant time nodes for this year were finalized. All parties are required to provide the short-term airspace adjustment plan of Year 2025 for simulator evaluation platform. This aims to provide reference data for medium and long-term airspace planning, to assist with the aviation development in the GHM Greater Bay Area, achieving to develop a higher quality, more coordinated, more sustainable and internationally competitive world-class airport cluster in GBA.

Other participants from AOD of CAM for the meeting: Ms. Pricilla Cheong - Adviser to Head of ATS Division and Ms. Sophia Kou - Senior Air Traffic Controller.