New technology to strengthen flight safety
By Cao Desheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-01 23:32

The nation's civil aviation sector is stepping up an informatization project and security to strengthen air transport controls to ensure flight safety and security.

"By adopting biological sensing technology, chemical analysis and artificial intelligence, we are developing a type of security detector to be used in airports," said Huang Rongshun, vice-director of the Second Research Institute of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).

In addition, an information security management system for airports has also been developed, Huang said, speaking at the 6th Informatization Forum of CAAC yesterday.

According to CAAC's guideline for the "10th five-year plan" on informatization, the nation's air control system will be built into a more comprehensive network oriented to flying safety, efficient management and decision-making support, as well as serving air transport enterprises.

The system will ensure better flight plans, more timely flight intelligence, and better meteorological information supervision.

The guidelines also urged civil aviation enterprises to use information technology to modernize their operations and management.

Airlines and airport companies must heighten their informatization efforts to improve their competitive abilities in international markets, Ren Yingli, CAAC's Department of Personnel and Education vice-director said at the forum.

Meanwhile, e-business in the sector also needs to be widely promoted and a platform for air logistics information should be set up, he said.

In fact, the nation's civil aviation sector has injected a lot into informatization construction in recent years.

According to a survey conducted by Beijing-based CCID Consulting Company, the civil aviation industry will witness a 5-plus billion yuan (US$ 600 million) worth of input in the information technology application before the end of this year.

The number has increased by 21 per cent over last year.

Most of the economic input focuses on hardware construction.

But Huang predicted that in the coming years, software development and application will become the focus of increasing demand.

Currently, the nation's airline companies are working to promote e-ticketing services and electronic tickets will amount to 50 per cent of ticket sales in 2007, according to Ren.

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