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.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS