TNAG-2846-FCO40-4099-Air-services-agreement-between-Hong-Kong-and-Vietnam-1993 — Page 4

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C

International ATS Engineering Services

10L/ICA/11/3/1

24 May 1993

Mr Douglas Evans

UK Representative on the Council

International Civil Aviation Organisation

Suite 928

1000 Sherbrooke Street West

Montreal

Quebec

Canada H3A 3G4

Li

hiv Janson, UND

cc: su Tansley, SEAD

m Burten, HKD

An Bristow - Snush, PED

INTERNATIONAL SE

Aviation House, Floor 1E

South Area

Gatwick Airport

Gatwick

West Sussex RH6 OYR

Switchboard: 0293 567171

Direct Line: 0293 573381

Telex: 878753

Fax: 0293 573990

Dear Mr Evans,

then he pl

3.

ASIA/PAC REGIONAL AIR NAVIGATION MEETING

cc: Mr John Hall, FCO, AMD Ms Anne Wood, DoT, IA2

LAST PAPER

We have been copied the information supplied to the FCO with respect to the Vietnam issue discussed at the 3rd ASIA/PAC RAN meeting. The text indicates the position reached at the meeting despite the efforts of the President of the Council to railroad the meeting.

A brief resume of the circumstances leading to the formation of a working group of specialists should enable you to piece together the policies which were being followed at this meeting. We were pressed by Hong Kong in detailed briefing sessions prior to the meeting to leave the operation of the airspace intact. The objective was not to prevent the Vietnamese controlling a flight information region over the South China Sea but to establish the needs of aviation and the abilities of the Vietnamese controllers prior to agreeing to defined FIR boundaries and dates for implementation. In the 18 years since Vietnam had controlled the airspace considerable traffic growth had been experienced and there was doubt as to the practical ability of Vietnamese controllers to handle the present level of traffic.

Prior to the meeting ICAO had convened meetings with the Chinese and Vietnamese to discuss the sharing of the airspace and the introduction of the new Sanya FIR with the ability to provide an increase in radar cover in the area. The states providing the aviation service were not invited to these meetings, these are Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. A strange approach to understanding the problems of airspace management in the South China Sea prior to reintroduction of an airspace.