Hong Kong should just scrap its faulty air traffic control system | South China Morning Post
n 2011, two years after the tender opened for a new air traffic control system to replace Hong Kong’s ageing one, US military contractor Raytheon won the bid with its AutoTrac 3 system. The new system was meant to be commissioned in 2012, but was postponed when no verified record of its good performance could be found. It was then revealed that no airport had fully rolled out the air traffic system before the Hong Kong tender closed in 2010. India’s New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai airports only started using the system in 2011, and Dubai in 2012.
Was the Central Tender Board misled by civil aviation officials that there was positive feedback on the system? Media reports later revealed that Hong Kong officials did not visit the airports in India and Dubai until after Raytheon had won the bid.
Chek Lap Kok in a flap over possibly dud air traffic control system | South China Morning Post
When Raytheon, one of the world’s largest military contractors and arms exporters, was announced the winner in February 2011, Indra immediately launched an appeal over the decision, arguing that Raytheon’s AT3 system did not meet the tender requirements as it had no proven performance of at least six months before the tender closed in February 2010. The appeal was rejected.
The AT3 system, released in 2006, was first sold to the Airports Authority of India and later to airports in the United Arab Emirates. But the systems did not go into full operation until after the tender in Hong Kong closed in 2010. India’s New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai airports only started using the system in 2011 and Dubai in 2012.
As these four airports are the only ones that adopted AT3, Hong Kong lawmakers have questioned why a system that had no proven record before the tender closing date was chosen.