The North Korean Civil Aviation Administration is scheduled to complete an initial upgrade of air-traffic-control equipment by the end of the year, in readiness for the start of international flight trials through the Pyongyang Flight Information Region (FIR) in late February.
North Korea is modernising communications equipment at four of its airports, including the Pyongyang FIR area-control centre (ACC) at the capital's Sunan International Airport. The improvements are being funded with the proceeds from user charges, and assistance by the International Air Transport Association.
Enhancements to the Pyongyang ACC have included the installation of new Norwegian VHF communications, Multipoint and Matra-Marconi satellite dishes, Garex switching gear, power supply and standby generators. New VHF radios are also being added to the Sondok, Ourang and Samjion airports in the north east of the Korean peninsular.
A second phase of improvement is planned for mid-1998, after the FIR is opened to international traffic. New ACC additions will include some consoles and air-traffic-management equipment compatible with automatic dependence surveillance, controller-pilot datalink communications and automatic interfacility data communications. An upgrade is also planned for the Sombong Airport in North Korea's special economic zone.
The agreement recently brokered by the International Civil Aviation Organisation between North and South Korea finally clears the way for international traffic to pass between the adjacent Pyongyang (North) and Taegu (South) FIRs. Talks had been stalled since April over the medium for direct communications between the two ACCs.
Pyongyang has now acceded to demands from Seoul that an existing Red Cross-administered land link running through the Panmunjom truce village in the de-militarised zone be used. The line from Taegu has already been upgraded to a fibre-optic cable and this will now be extended from Panmunjom 300km (200nm) north to Sunan.
A satellite link, using Asiasat, will provide a back-up between the northern and southern Korean ACCs. The Pyongyang ACC will also use the newly installed satellite dish to connect with the neighbouring Chinese FIRs in Shenyang and Dalian, and the Russian Vladivostok FIR.
Overflights of the Pyongyang FIR are due to start from 23 April, after one week of trials in March by Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. The new B467 route, which crosses the oceanic sector of the Pyongyang FIR between points Nular and and Kansu (Flight International, 16-22 April), will cut flight times between Asia and the USA by up to 30min.
Two other new routes running off from B467 and across the North Korean Peninsular, G346 from Nular and B332 from Kansu, will remain off-limits to US carriers. A recent US Federal Aviation Administration ruling stipulates that all US carriers must remain east of longitude 132¹E.
Source: Flight International
