Air Traffic Control Eases Asia-Europe FlightsSatellite and digital navigation technology may have improved air safety over western China, allowing planes to go from Southeast Asia to Europe using a relatively direct flight path.A successful trial flight indicated that China had reached a milestone in modernizing its air traffic control facilities, officials said Wednesday in Beijing. On Saturday, an Australia Qantas airliner with passengers aboard embarked on the new flight course, entering China at the border with Kazakhstan. It flew over air traffic control regions in Urumqi, Lanzhou, Chengdu and Kunming before leaving China over the Laotian border. On Tuesday, another Qantas flight flew from Frankfurt to Singapore via the same route. The new route is made safe with a leading air traffic control system called Communication Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management. This 3,200-kilometre route shortens flight distance from Southeast Asia and Oceania to Europe, said Chen Haiju, director of the Air Traffic Management Bureau under the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Europe-bound planes from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand will cut their flights by 15 to 45 minutes by using the new route, said Lu Xiaoping, another bureau official. |
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