30 years of operating Ho Chi Minh FIR safely and effectively
Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Le Hoang Minh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, said: At 00:00 (international time) on December 8, 1994, the Ho Chi Minh Long-range Air Traffic Control Center (under Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation) performed its responsibility of operating flight operations in the Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region.
Mr. Le Hoang Minh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation spoke at the seminar.
This is considered the result of Vietnam's persistent and clever diplomatic struggle at the conference table under the leadership of the Party and Government, as well as the proper investment in facilities, technical equipment and human resources of the Vietnamese aviation industry in general and VATM in particular, fully meeting the strict requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
According to Mr. Minh, regaining control of the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh FIR has great significance in terms of politics, diplomacy, national security and defense, and has directly created an important voice in issues of sovereignty and territorial sovereignty rights in the East Sea.
At the same time, it affirms Vietnam's position in the international arena in civil aviation activities in general and the provision of flight assurance services in particular, as well as creating initiative for our military flight activities and indirectly supporting the work of protecting the Fatherland's airspace.
"Over the past 30 years, the right to operate the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region has been received and managed safely and effectively by Vietnam, contributing significantly to maintaining aviation order and security and promoting international trade," said the VATM leader.
A flight information region (FIR) is an airspace of defined dimensions assigned by ICAO to member states responsible to the International Civil Aviation Community for the provision of air navigation services.
FIR boundaries are determined on the basis of agreements between relevant countries, international aviation organizations (ICAO, IATA) at Regional Air Navigation Conferences (RAN) and approved by the ICAO Council.
Ho Chi Minh FIR, before 1975 called Saigon FIR, was established at the Middle East - Southeast Air Transport Conference in Rome in 1959, including sovereign airspace under national sovereignty and airspace over international waters in the East Sea.
In 1973, at the first Asia-Pacific Regional Air Transport Conference (RAN-1) held in Honolulu, Saigon FIR was slightly adjusted to expand to the South and maintained until April 28, 1975 with an area of about 918,000km2.
In April 1975, concerned about the deadlock in air traffic in the region when South Vietnam was liberated, ICAO outlined a provisional air traffic plan, including establishing relief air traffic routes over the East Sea and dividing the Saigon 4 FIR (the airspace above the East Sea) into three temporary areas of responsibility, assigned to the three Long-range Control Centers of Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore and Hong Kong (then under the control of the United Kingdom). The remaining part of the Saigon FIR was managed by the Ho Chi Minh Long-range Control Center.
After the liberation of the South in 1977, the Vietnamese Party and State had a policy of fighting to regain complete control of the old Saigon FIR and named it Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region (FIR Ho Chi Minh).
Vietnam officially took control of the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh FIR at the Third Asia-Pacific Air Navigation Conference (RAN-3) held in 1993 in Bangkok (Thailand).
Difficulty in gaining control of Ho Chi Minh City FIR
At the discussion, recalling the process of fighting to regain control of the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh FIR, Mr. Pham Viet Dung, Director - Chief of the Office of the Party - Mass Organizations of the Ministry of Transport, said that during nearly a month of the RAN-3 conference, developments at the conference table always changed in many directions.
The speakers were former officials who participated in the RAN-3 conference to negotiate and regain control of the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh FIR, sharing about the difficulties and challenges they faced.
According to Mr. Dung, to regain control of the Ho Chi Minh FIR, Vietnam had to prepare for many years before participating in the RAN-3 conference. However, at that time (around 1993), Vietnam faced many difficulties because it was under the US embargo. Although it was a member of ICAO, at that time, the presence of the Vietnamese aviation industry in the international aviation market was still weak.
"Vietnam's aviation relations are not yet extensive, so we cannot fully assess the support of the aviation industries of other countries for us. Our aviation potential is also weak to be able to "fight" with other proposals at the conference. Those are the difficulties that we must anticipate so that we can be proactive and not be surprised by the complicated developments at RAN-3," Mr. Dung recalled.
Therefore, Vietnam's lobbying work with other countries before and during the conference must be continuous to take advantage of Vietnam's advantages.
Affirming that gaining control of the Ho Chi Minh FIR was the Government's effort, Mr. Nguyen Quy Binh, former Deputy Head of the National Border Committee (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) said that in the context that countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong have much more advantages than Vietnam, before the conference took place, with the support of ICAO, the Vietnamese delegation negotiated with countries such as the US, France, Canada, and the UK to mobilize countries to support Vietnam at RAN-3.
"Taking control of Ho Chi Minh FIR is not only related to the revenue of the air traffic management industry, but also a matter of technology, politics, and aviation security," said Mr. Binh.
Analyzing this further, as a former participant of the RAN-3 conference, Lieutenant Colonel Le Ngoc Son (Operations Department, General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army) said that for Vietnam to gain control of the Ho Chi Minh FIR, Vietnam must ensure factors of aviation safety, search and rescue, etc.
Members of the Vietnamese delegation at the RAN-3 Conference (Photo: TL).
Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region (FIR) and Hanoi FIR today.
At that time, the aviation industry’s search and rescue work had to rely on the Ministry of Defense. Therefore, coordination between the Ministry of Defense and the aviation industry was extremely important for the negotiations at RAN-3 to be effective.
After gaining control of flight operations in the Ho Chi Minh FIR, taking over control of the air traffic management sector also had many complications.
Former General Director of the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration Center Tran Xuan Mui emphasized that this was a competition for investment in technical and scientific equipment so that Vietnam could win over countries like Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. At that time, the Government granted special permission for the aviation industry to carry out equipment investment projects without bidding.
Fortunately, at this time, Vietnam has many advantages when starting to enter the stage of economic recovery and development. The efforts and emulation of all levels and sectors, including aviation, have helped the operation of Ho Chi Minh FIR gradually improve and achieve many positive results to this day.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/30-nam-viet-nam-gianh-quyen-dieu-hanh-vung-thong-bao-bay-ho-chi-minh-192240830163554978.htm
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