Regional ties key to managing air traffic

Industry practitioners are working together to advance the modernization of air traffic management in the Asia-Pacific region and address needs and challenges amid the region's fast-growing aviation market.

"The Asia-Pacific is an incredibly diverse region, and its aviation market is facing unprecedented growth. We are committed to supporting the development of the aviation industry in this region by fostering collaboration and innovation," said Simon Hocquard, director-general of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization.

Hocquard made the remarks at the CANSO Asia Pacific Conference 2024, which was held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, from Monday to Thursday.

Hosted by the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the event attracted more than 250 registered participants, including over 170 foreign guests. They came from major air navigation service providers in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as international organizations, suppliers and research institutions in the ATM sector.

Hocquard said this year's event focused on helping CANSO's members in the Asia-Pacific region accelerate the pace of ATM modernization by leveraging digital solutions and new opportunities for collaboration.

As a highlight of the event, ATM experts and decisionmakers shared insights revolving around the Asia Pacific ATM White Paper produced by CANSO and Think Research earlier this year, in which it identified the challenges hindering the modernization of Asia-Pacific airspace and proposed innovative solutions and actions.

"China's commitment to technological innovation and infrastructure development is particularly commendable," Hocquard said. "By hosting our event in Chengdu, we highlight China's leadership in embracing digital advancements and upgrading air traffic management systems."

Hocquard said CANSO is set to launch another event — Airspace Asia Pacific — in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in December 2025.

This future event aims to bring together industry leaders to explore cutting-edge technologies, share best practices, and develop strategies to improve the efficiency and safety of air navigation services, he added.

China has grown into the world's second-largest air transport market, with its civil aviation industry achieving a total transport turnover of 118.83 billion ton-kilometers in 2023, and handling 620 million passenger trips and 7.354 million metric tons of cargo, said Ma Bing, deputy director of the CAAC.

The International Air Transport Association expects that by 2043, air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region will be approaching half of the global total.

Wen Xuezheng, Party chief of the ATMB, said demand for air transport is likely to intensify as the global economy rebounds and trade in the Asia-Pacific region continues to grow, posing a challenge to maintain a high level of safety, efficiency and sustainable development.

"Under such a backdrop, we need to emphasize the significance of ramping up international and regional bilateral and multilateral cooperation," Wen said, adding that the ATMB looks forward to working with ATM specialists to play a constructive role in addressing hot spots or pain points in the sector.

Edson Fagundes Gomes, business development manager of Atech — a subsidiary of Brazil-based Embraer Group — said his company's ATM tech products have been applied in Brazil, other South American countries, Africa and India, but haven't entered the Chinese market yet, so he came to look for business opportunities.

"China has very good companies that do the same that we do in Brazil. I have met with some tech companies here and there's huge potential for cooperation," he said. "We expect it to be a two-way cooperation, and not only are we expanding business with our Chinese partners in China, but also bringing them to Brazil for business opportunities."

Yang Xiaoyue, marketing manager at Rohde & Schwarz (China) Technology Co Ltd, said the event provided a great opportunity for her company to deepen ties with its clients in China and the Asia-Pacific region, and offered a platform to showcase its new digital products and seek more partners in the rapidly expanding Chinese civil aviation market.

Zhang Jun, a manager at Chengdu Civil Aviation Air Traffic Control Science and Technology Co Ltd — a unit of the Second Research Institute of the CAAC — said his company leveraged the event to strengthen exchanges with leading international counterparts, and promote cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific.