The Civil Aviation Department has refuted a news report claiming the Air Traffic Management System's workstations are regularly rebooted to "minimise system crashing".
In a statement today, the department said the regular rebooting of the workstations is part of regular housekeeping procedures and the management system has not experienced any crash since its commissioning.
Noting different workstations are rebooted in phases and in batches instead of the whole system being rebooted at the same time, the department said such an exercise would not affect air traffic control services or flight operations nor would it undermine aviation safety.
Major overseas air traffic control centres regularly reboot individual workstations based on their needs, which is part of their routine housekeeping procedures, it added.
With the concerted efforts of air traffic control officers and system maintenance staff, the department said the management system's performance has been satisfactory since its full commissioning in November last year, including during peak air traffic in festive periods and under adverse weather.
The new system is handling more daily flight movements. July and August saw a daily average of 2,091 flight movements, up 8.3% on the same period last year, with a new single-day record of 2,341 flights set on August 24.
