Air Traffic Congestion

[Anchor Lead]

Air traffic in Korean skies has been growing exponentially every year. The government has decided to establish a control tower to deal with air traffic congestion and improve emergency response measures.

[Pkg]

More than two thousand airliners fly in the skies over Korea daily. With air traffic surging over the past several years, more than 700 flight departures were delayed in the first half of this year alone. Air traffic is predicted to double by 2035.

[Soundbite] Cho Sang-hyun(Incheon Int'l Airport Corp.) : "Flights to and from China and Southeast Asia are concentrated between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., which results in more and more delays."

As safety concerns continue to grow, the government has decided to introduce an air traffic flow management system instead of relying solely on controllers' experience.

[Soundbite] Hwang Kyo-ahn(Prime Minister) : "We will implement an air traffic flow management system next year so that we can predict and analyze the appropriate amount of air traffic to ensure safe air navigation."

Under the plan, the government will establish an air traffic control tower to oversee emergency response measures, similar to the Transportation Management Centers in the U.S., which helped more than four thousand flights land safely in various locations in just two hours when the September 11 attacks occurred in New York.

[Soundbite] Kim Sang-soo(Min. of Land, Infrastructure & Transport) : "When a volcano erupted in northern Europe, it was Euro control that oversaw air traffic in the region. When an earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan, Japan's operations control center controlled air traffic."

The government says it will establish another air route traffic control center in addition to the existing one in Daegu to bolster the country's emergency response capabilities.