MYANMAR has been told that it risks future international air traffic bypassing Yangon's flight-information region, following its decision to purchase conventional radar equipment.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had been pressing Myanmar to order future-air-navigation-system (FANS)-compatible equipment. This would have allowed a planned new FANS route across the Bay of Bengal to have passed through Myanmar's airspace.
The country has opted instead to spend $12.5 million on two new civil/military radars for Yangon and Mandalay. According to IATA regional director Tony Laven, the move was the result of "contrary advice" from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
ICAO consultants have been providing assistance to Myanmar, to help modernise its air-traffic-management system. It is now understood to be helping Myanmar draw up a request for proposals for the two radar systems.
"We're disappointed that Myanmar is going ahead and acquiring some conventional radar equipment, whereas they could have bypassed that step," says IATA director-general Pierre Jeanniot.
It is likely that the new Singapore-India FANS route will now cross the Bay of Bengal from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneshwar, via Port Blair in the Indian Andaman Islands, avoiding the Yangon FIR. Myanmar as a result, would not receive any overflight income from the new route or a planned Bangkok-Europe FANS route.
The new route will initially handle six to eight FANS-1 Boeing 747-400 flights daily, mainly from Singapore Airlines and Qantas.In the longer term, with the wider adoption of the Boeing system and the entry into service of similar Airbus Industrie and McDonnell Douglas FANS packages, the route equipment would be potentially compatible with that fitted to up to 85% of aircraft used between Asia and Europe.
The route will allow aircraft to maintain optimum altitudes and avoid the congested Calcutta corridor. It is expected to open within two to three months of Calcutta receiving an interim FANS datalink system from CAE Electronics.
Despite some "differences of opinion" with IATA over user charges, Iran and its flag carrier, Iran Air, are interested in extending the South-East Asian-Indian FANS route. "They're supporting it now and I think that will continue the route back to Europe," says Jeanniot.
Source: Flight International
