CABINET INITIATIVE: Software defects and air traffic control communications outage show the importance of modernizing air traffic infrastructure, an official said
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Executive Yuan has approved a NT$19.198 billion (US$588.59 million) investment to upgrade the nation’s air traffic management systems, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) announced the initiative at the International Aviation Safety Management Summit in Taipei, citing two incidents in the US and the UK last month as reminders of the importance of modernizing air traffic infrastructure.
In the UK, a previously unidentified software defect in the national airspace system’s flight-data processing software caused delays, cancelations and diversions of more than 2,000 flights on Sept. 8.
Air traffic control workers sit at the Taichung and Hualien sector control console in a photograph released on Sept. 30, 2011.
Photo courtesy of the Civil Aeronautics Administration
In the US, an air traffic control communications outage on Sept. 21 affected flights bound for Philadelphia International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
The US outage was linked to problems with communications infrastructure, including a fiber-optic cable accidentally severed during construction work in New Jersey.
“Too often, problems arise because the necessary equipment has not been procured or updated, or personnel have not received adequate training before an incident occurs,” Lin said.
The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) added 322 staff members during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 163 air traffic controllers, Lin said.
“We hope the NT$19.198 billion investment would upgrade the air traffic management systems and enable air traffic controllers to work more efficiently,” he said.
The eight-year initiative would upgrade facilities at air navigation and meteorological service campuses in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung, as well as air traffic control towers at 12 airports nationwide, the CAA said.
The funding would be used to procure next-generation air traffic control systems, air traffic flow management systems, digital voice switching systems, and big-data analytics and intelligent decision-support systems, the agency said.
The initiative would also establish an environment for developing and testing aviation software and systems, as well as to accommodate aviation training simulators, it said.
Air traffic controller operation centers and power equipment rooms in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung would be expanded under the plan, the agency added.
The upgrades aim to accommodate projected growth in air traffic through the Taipei Flight Information Region through 2049 and ensure that Taiwan’s air traffic control systems exceed safety and system availability targets set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other international organizations, the CAA said.
The systems would be upgraded in accordance with the ICAO’s Asia-Pacific Aviation System Block Upgrades strategy, with robust backup capabilities across systems to improve resilience, it said.
The upgrades are expected to help airlines improve fuel efficiency and increase air navigation service revenue, it said.
Domestic and international air passenger volume in Taiwan is expected to exceed 70 million this year, up from 68.89 million last year, the CAA said.
As of last month, the nation had handled 56 million air passengers so far this year, CAA data showed.