The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) is the civil aviation authority of Hong Kong, headquartered at

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...

. The department is responsible for providing air traffic control services to all aircraft operating within the Hong Kong

Flight Information Region In aviation, a flight information region (FIR) is a specified region of airspace in which a flight information service and an alerting service (ALRS) are provided. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) delegates which country is re ...

. It reports to the

Transport and Logistics Bureau Transport and Logistics Bureau () is one of the fifteen policy bureaux for the Government of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. It is responsible for the transport and logistics policy portfolios. The agency was establis ...

of the Hong Kong Government. The current Director-General of Civil Aviation is Victor Liu Chi-yung. The CAD was also responsible for managing the former Hong Kong International Airport at

Kai Tak Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

, until it was retired and replaced by the new

managed by the

Airport Authority An airport authority is an independent entity charged with the operation and oversight of an airport or group of airports. These authorities are often governed by a group of airport commissioners, who are appointed to lead the authority by a govern ...

. During

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rule, CAD was not a sub-unit of the British Civil Aviation Authority. Since 1997, CAD maintains independent from the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

History

The CAD was established on 1 May 1946. In 2018, responsibility for investigation of aircraft accidents was transferred to the newly formed

Air Accident Investigation Authority The Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA; ) is responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents in Hong Kong, as well as those in other territories involving a Hong Kong-registered aircraft. It was established in 2018 under the Tra ...

(AAIA).

Structure

CAD includes the following divisions: *Deputy Director-General of Civil Aviation (1) **Flight Standards and Airworthiness Division **Air Traffic Management Division **Air Traffic Engineering Services Division **Airport Standards Division *Deputy Director-General of Civil Aviation (2) **Air Services and Safety Management Division **Administration Division **Finance Division

Facilities

The agency is headquartered at

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

. Previously it was on the 46th floor of the

Queensway Government Offices The Queensway Government Office Building is a skyscraper located in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong near Admiralty station. The tower rises 56 floors and in height. The building was completed in 1985. It was designed by Mr K.M. Tseng of ...

Safety concerns

In late 2016, CAD introduced a new air traffic system which attracted concerns over the increased risk of safety within Hong Kong airspace. On 8 February, a

FactWire FactWire () was an investigative news agency headquartered in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Funded by crowdfunding via the crowdfunding platform FringeBacker in the first round of seed fund in 2015, FactWire was founded with the initial financial support ...

investigation showed that there were 6 cases of safety incidents involving “loss of separation” in January 2017 due to technical issues with CAD's new air traffic management system (ATMS). 5 of the cases occurred during peak-time Lunar New Year holidays, and were resolved internally. As a comparison, it was noted that only 10 incidents of "loss of separation" occurred per year under the previous system, with such cases being treated as very serious due to the risk of mid-air collision.
/ref> After criticism of not having announced the 6 "LOS" incidents, CAD released a statement on their website to clarify that all incidents were classified as "minor" internally.

References

External links

* *
Flight Information Region In Hong Kong
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Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...