Beth Keck, a Hong Kong-based vice-president of Boeing Air Traffic Management (ATM) specializing in business development in the Asian region, said in a press luncheon May 6 in Hong Kong that the company recently signed its first contract with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and has embarked on a six-month study on the airport's terminal maneuvering area and ground operations.

"The volume of air traffic in Beijing is expected to double over the next eight years, due to a number of factors, including the holding of the Olympic Games in 2008. So we are getting data on the airport approaches, the airport gates and to crunch them for educated growth projections," she said.

Simulation tests will then be run on the computer to see if the airport works fine with data of increased air traffic flows - as the airport is planning to have a third runway for the year 2004, she said.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), China is a country with the second fastest growth in total domestic and international travel after Vietnam, with an annual average growth rate forecast at 7.8 percent for the period from 1999-2014.

Meanwhile, Keck revealed that the company is also in talks with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's Civil Aviation Department to see if the International Airport at Chek Lap Kok here needs any upgrading for its air traffic management system, she said.

"Already there are significant congestion and delay problems in North America, Europe, and in certain parts of Asia that act as a drag on global economic growth," he said.

Boeing ATM projected that the growth for air traffic flow in the whole Asia is to triple the 1999 volume by the year 2020.

(People's Daily May 08, 2002)