'Gov't downplaying air traffic system problems'

Nurul Izzah Anwar has slammed the authorities for downplaying alleged problems with the national air traffic control system in calling it “minor glitches”.

According to the Lembah Pantai PKR parliamentarian, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) had said they spotted “minor glitches” in the 26.05 million euro (RM128.4 million) system, while the Transport Ministry vouched that it is “performing well”.

She said the statements were a far cry from complaints from the Subang air traffic controllers that there are “clear weaknesses that render the system unstable”.

In a June 13 letter to Nurul Izzah, DCA director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the regulatory body had held five meetings with the Italian radar systems provider Selex Sistemi Integriti SpA from January to May to “monitor improvements to the system”.

Nurul Izzah had claimed that the Human Machine Interface (HMI) fitted to the National Air Traffic Control Centre (NATCC) has been defective upon installation on Dec 13 last year.

She based her allegations on documents she had received, the source of which could not be independently verified. 

According to the documents the NATCC director had sent out a memo to “all traffic controllers, in particular highlighting the inconsistency in cleared flight level”.

A letter dated Jan 4 had 11 signatories, including NATCC’s deputy director of air traffic control, addressed to their director, complaining that efforts to rectify the problems up to then were “very disappointing”, and air traffic controllers had been advised to be cautious.

NATCC’s systems coordinate air traffic over the entire country’s airspace and any problems in the system would compromise flight safety.

[More to follow]