Formed 1946 Website www.cad.gov.hk | Employees 691 (March 2008) [1] | |
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Headquarters Civil Aviation Department Headquarters, 1 Tung Fai Road, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong Annual budget 677.5m HKD (2008-09) [2] Agency executive Simon Li Tin-chui, JP, Director-General of Civil Aviation | ||
The Civil Aviation Department (Chinese: 民航處, Cantonese: man4 hong4 cyu3, Mandarin: Mínháng Chù) is the civil aviation authority of Hong Kong, headquartered at Hong Kong International Airport. The department is responsible for providing air traffic control services to all aircraft operating within the Hong Kong Flight Information Region. It reports to the Transport and Housing Bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The current Director-General of Civil Aviation is Simon Li Tin-chui.
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The CAD was also responsible for managing the former Hong Kong International Airport at Kai Tak, until it was retired and replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport managed by the Airport Authority.
Both the Flight Standards & Airworthiness Division and Accident Investigation Division of the CAD investigates aviation accidents and incidents.
During British rule, CAD was not a sub-unit of the Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). Since 1997, CAD maintains independence from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Facilities
The agency has its headquarters at Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau Island. Previously it was on the 46th floor of the Queensway Government Offices.
Safety Concerns
In late 2016, CAD introduced a new Air Traffic System that attracted concerns over the increased risk that it puts travellers departing and arriving into Hong Kong airspace. In February 8, it was revealed by a FactWire investigation that there were six cases of safety incidents involving “loss of separation” in the month of January 2017 because CAD’s new air traffic management system (ATMS) did not operate correctly. Five of the cases occurred during the peak-time Lunar New Year holidays, and none was made known to the public. As a comparison, it was noted that only 10 incidents of "loss of separation" would happen per year under the previous system and such cases were treated as very serious due to the risk of mid-air collison. After criticism of having covered up the 6 "los" incidents, CAD released a statement on their website at 11:34pm to claim that all incidents are "minor", although industry experts claim that all "los" incidents should be treated as serious due to the potential damage.
Further criticism and investigation has begun into CAD's director Simon Li into whether kickbacks and additional benefits was received during the tender of the new Air Traffic System.