The General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) Monday
announced it has approved designation of restricted airspace for
the exclusive use of the Taiwan airport on Jinmen island, a close
neighbor to east China's Fujian province.
The plan will help facilitate the smooth operation of a landing
and flight control system recently established at the airport, said
an official with the Air Traffic Management Bureau of CAAC.
If other flights not departing from or heading for Jinmen
deviate from their own air routes and enter the restricted
airspace, Jinmen airport is entitled to give regulation orders to
the strayed airliner, the official said.
The main purpose of opening the restricted airspace is to
enhance flight safety and to ensure normal operation of flights at
Jinmen airport.
Test flights had been carried out successfully from June 9 to 16
to make final checks on the new landing and flight control
system.
The approvement was made three days prior to the country's
traditional mid-Autumn Festival, a family reunion occasion which
falls on Sept. 11 this year according to the Chinese Lunar
Calendar.
During last year's Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 21, residents
from Xiamen, Fujian's capital, and Jinmen, gathered together at sea
for the first time in 53 years, as part of nationwide
celebrations.
Jinmen, a key transfer point both in the sea and air traffic
between Chinese mainland and Taiwan, has played a vital role in
cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation and exchanges.
(Xinhua News Agency? September ?9, 2003)