The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
                                          
     The Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Economic Development conducted a visit to the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) today (January 19) to better understand the operation of the new Air Traffic Management System (ATMS) after its full commissioning.
 
     Accompanied by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Simon Li, members received a briefing on the key features of the new ATMS by represenative of the CAD and visited the new Air Traffic Control (ATC) Centre and the ATC Tower to observe the real operations.  Members also took the opportunity to visit the ATC Radar Simulator and the Tower Simulator to have a better understanding on how ATC staff receive training on using the new system.  Members exchanged views with the representatives of CAD on the recent incidents relating to the operation of the new ATMS as well as aviation safety.  Members also noted that the new system had in general operated smoothly during the peak air traffic flow in the period of last Christmas and New Year holidays.
 
     The Panel on Economic Development discussed issues relating to the full commissioning of the new ATMS at its meeting on December 13, 2016.  The discussion papers can be found at the following website:
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr16-17/english/panels/edev/agenda/edev20161213.htm.
 
    Members who participated in the visit included the Chairman of the Panel, Mr Jeffrey Lam, and Panel members Mr Charles Peter Mok, Mr Kenneth Leung, Dr Lo Wai-kwok, Dr Chiang Lai-wan, Dr Junius Ho, Mr Kenneth Lau and Mr Jeremy Tam.

Ends/Thursday, January 19, 2017
Issued at HKT 22:27

NNNN