China, U.S. hold 5th JATSG meeting

The Fifth Joint Air Traffic Steering Group (JATSG/5) meeting between China and the United States was held in Beijing from February 19th to 20th. A delegation from the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), led by Deputy Director General Lv Xiaoping, met with the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) delegation for two days. Representatives from the Boeing Company were also present at the event. The two-day meeting focused on several important aspects of the joint air traffic cooperation between China and the United States. During the JATSG/5 meeting, the delegates reviewed and summarized the accomplishments of the Sino-America Air Traffic Management (ATM) technical exchanges and cooperation for 2007. The meeting also tackled several important areas of air traffic cooperation. These included discussions on the definition of contents of cooperation and work plans with the FAA; assessment and identification of cooperation agreements on Chengdu Automatic Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) test project; Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS); Regional Monitoring Agency (RMA) and Area Navigation 2 (RNAV2) parallel air route. Lv Xiaoping, Deputy Director General of the ATMB of the CAAC, delivered a speech in which she expressed her gratitude to the FAA for their support of the successful implementation of the Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) in China’s airspace. Lv expressed China’s commitment to further strengthen its cooperation with the United States in the fields of NexGen ATM, airspace, communication, navigation, and other significant areas that will further advance the two countries’ civil aviation. The highlight of the JATSG/5 meeting was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the NexGen ATM and Confidentiality Agreement between China and the United States. The MOU defines the work areas, guiding principles and cooperation mechanism that will serve as guidelines for the supervising group of the NexGen ATM. Formulating plans and frameworks for the NexGen ATM was set to be held in Chengdu in mid-April 2008. The assembly concluded with the signing of the minutes of the Fifth Joint Air Traffic Steering Group meeting. The delegates expressed their willingness to carry out their respective tasks based on the approved minutes of the meeting.