The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) of Hong Kong will roll out operational use of AireonFLOW for air traffic flow management, enabling unparalleled air traffic visibility and situational awareness to the Hong Kong air navigation service provider’s (ANSP) very busy airspace.

AireonFLOW provides air traffic management grade data using Aireon’s market leading space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) service. Combined with flight plan contextual information, AireonFLOW enhances prediction capabilities of flow management and other relevant air traffic capacity and demand platforms.

“The Hong Kong airspace is a perfect candidate for our AireonFLOW product. With one of the world’s busiest airports and significant overflight traffic from countries throughout the region, the ability to accurately and reliably predict traffic flows is of the utmost importance,” said Don Thoma, Aireon CEO. “CAD Hong Kong is a leader in air traffic management and has been a strong proponent of space-based ADS-B since 2020, and we’re looking forward to seeing how CAD Hong Kong will reap operational efficiencies and safety improvements using our data.”

The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), which is managed by CAD Hong Kong, is one of the busiest airports in the world. The ANSP manages more than 400,000 air traffic movements into and out of Hong Kong International airport annually in addition to the extensive overflights passing though the flight information region (FIR).

The selection of AireonFLOW comes at time of growth for the ANSP and HKIA. Air traffic suffered greatly during the pandemic, but air traffic has rebounded strongly in the region. When at full capacity, the HKIA handles more than 35 arrivals and departures per hour. Continual position updates from AireonFLOW will ensure that demand prediction for traffic in their airspace sectors and at airports has a high level of accuracy, leading to efficient pre-tactical and tactical flow management.