A new aeronautical information service (AIS) system launched in October would greatly enhance the precision of airlines’ flight route planning and operational efficiency of ground services, the Air Navigation and Weather Services said yesterday.
The system is designed to process flight plans and notices to air missions using the information of the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR), including flight routes, airports and navigation assistance facilities, agency Deputy Director Tung Chi-li (董吉利) said.
The agency shares the flight plans and notices to air missions with 93 FIRs worldwide, Tung said.
Photo: CNA
Taipei FIR publishes 260,000 flight plans per year, which would be relayed to all air control agencies along the flight routes, he said.
It also issues more than 10,000 notices to air missions and receives 1.18 million similar notices from other FIRs, including notices on military drills, drones and runway closures, he added.
The world became aware of the importance of maintaining a functioning AIS system after more than 10,000 flights were affected in the US on Jan. 1, 2023, following an outage of the US Federal Aviation Agency’s Notice to Air Missions system caused by a damaged database file, he said.
As the first-generation AIS system, which was installed in 2011, can no longer handle the challenges of the modern aviation industry, the agency began building the new AIS in 2023 at a cost of NT$170 million (US$5.44 million), he said.
“Different from the first-generation AIS system, which conveyed messages mainly through texts, the new system conveys messages using 2D and 3D images. It is like building an aviation version of Google Maps,” Tung said.
The new system can automatically show notices to air missions published by air control agencies along the planned flight routes, allowing airlines to decide if the routes need to be adjusted, he said.
After nearly two months of official operations, the new system has effectively enhanced airline route planning accuracy, ground operation safety and overall operational efficiency, Tung said.
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