With the vigorous development of the air transport industry in the Pearl River Delta Region, the air traffic increases tremendously. To effectively manage the air traffic of the Region and resolve the air traffic congestion, the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR (HKCAD) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) hold regular meetings to discuss improvement measures. On 20 and 21 July, the three parties held a two-day meeting in Macao to discuss in depth the direction for a long-term plan to satisfy the development of air traffic and air space of the Region targeting for 2020 as well as come up with some specific measures for the short and medium term. The meeting was held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere. The three parties agreed to adopt a unified standard, a unified plan and a unified procedure to study the long-term need for the sustainable development of air traffic in the Region; the three parties agreed to strive to adopt some measures in the short run to alleviate the air traffic congestion in the Region; the three parties also agreed to establish an equipment technical group to study the standards for a unified system interface and a unified data interchange for enhancing the efficiency of air traffic management. In addition, the three parties promised to work hard to achieve a long-term objective and carry out necessary studies to devise measures for implementation. The meeting was headed by the Director-General of ATMB, Mr. Su Langan, The Director-General of HKCAD, Mr. Norman Lo and the President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong. Factors such as airports being concentrated and runways intercrossing has led to increased complication in flight procedures and air traffic management in the Region. To study for improvement measures, ATMB, HKCAD and AACM held the first Pearl River Delta Region Air Space Planning and Implementation Meeting in Dalian in 2004 and established a supervisory group and a technical group for discussing the long-term development of air traffic management in the Region. The technical group has held several discussions afterwards and came up with a draft for the short, medium and long term respectively targeting for 2010, 2015 and 2020.
