PUTRAJAYA: The Transport Ministry today has expressed its sincere appreciation to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) for its commitment to develop the instrument flight procedures for Runway 03 within Singapore’s sovereign airspace.
The ministry said it was fully convinced that with some creativity the new Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures for Runway 03 on the southern side of Seletar Airport, guaranteed by CAAS during a meeting with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) on Nov 29, would not impose any additional impact on other airspace users as well as businesses and residents in Singapore.
“The ensuing tensions between both countries is indeed unnecessary and can be avoided by implementing the new ILS procedures for Runway 03 on the southern side of Seletar Airport, as opposed to Runway 21 on the northern side,” it said in a statement today.
With reference to Singaporean Ministry Transport’s statement released on Dec 10, it said it fully agreed that it would be useful for negotiations to be kept confidential to facilitate frank and constructive exchanges.
“It is a matter of principle for the Malaysian Transport Ministry not to release correspondences between parties to address media queries and to garner public support.
“The discussion on Nov 30 only reviewed the record of discussion that took place on Nov 29, particularly on the Operational Letter of Agreement 1974 and Malaysia’s decision to take back our sovereign airspace delegated to Singapore for the provision of air traffic services as well as the new ILS procedures for Seletar Airport.
“To this, the ministry wishes to reiterate that at no time CAAM neither agreed nor gave its approval for the publication of the new ILS procedures for Seletar Airport,” it added.
Malaysia has been vocal in opposing the new ILS procedures due to several factors including the location of the Seletar Airport which is only 2km from Pasir Gudang and any plane landing at the airport will encroach Malaysia’s airspace.
Another factor involves the height buffer from a distance of 3km and 6km from the Seletar Airport cannot be higher than 54m and 145m respectively, which means a mobile crane will have breached the height limit and no tall buildings can be built at Pasir Gudang.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke was reported saying that Malaysia’s position on the matter was very clear as it was not against Seletar Airport, but as far as the descending flight path was concerned, it could not be over Pasir Gudang.