PETALING JAYA, Dec 12 ― The Ministry of Transport has urged Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAS) to use their “creativity” to resolve Malaysia’s disagreement with the landing procedures for the republic’s Seletar Airport.
In a statement today, the ministry thanked CAAS for its commitment to develop the Instrument Landing System (ILS) for Seletar Airport’s Runway 03 within the republic’s sovereign airspace instead of at Runway 21 on the northern side of the airport, which triggered the dispute.
“Ministry of Transport Malaysia is fully convinced that with some creativity, the new ILS procedures for Runway 03 on the southern side of Seletar Airport, guaranteed by CAAS during the meeting with CAAM on 29 November 2018, would not impose any additional impact on other airspace users as well as businesses and residents in Singapore,” the Transport Ministry said, using the acronym for Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia.
The Transport Ministry also said it is a matter of principle for his ministry not to release correspondences between parties to address media queries and to garner public support after its Singaporean counterpart made public consultations on the disputed ILS, which is a guidance system to help pilots land.
Responding to the Singaporean Transport Ministry’s explanation for releasing details of the consultations on December 4, the Transport Ministry said: “...the Ministry of Transport (MOT) of Malaysia fully agrees that it would be useful for negotiations to be kept confidential to facilitate frank and constructive exchanges.”
The Transport Ministry pointed out that the discussion on November 30 only reviewed the record of discussion that took place a day earlier, particularly on the Operational Letter of Agreement 1974 and Malaysia’s decision to take back its sovereign airspace delegated to Singapore for the provision of air traffic services, as well as the new Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures for Seletar Airport.
In this respect, the ministry affirmed that at no time did the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) agree or give its approval for the publication of the new ILS procedures.
“MOT Malaysia is of the view that Singapore’s unilateral move to publish the new ILS procedures for Seletar Airport in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) Singapore is indeed a clear violation of Malaysia sovereignty and international law and standards.
“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,” the ministry said.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke had explained with a short video on his Facebook page last night Malaysia’s move to reclaim its southern airspace over Johor and its objection to the Seletar Airport ILS after Malaysia was portrayed as a bully by its neighbour.
The 1.34-minute starts by highlighting Firefly’s suspension of all its flights into Singapore after it was told to relocate to Seletar Airport from December 1, by pointing out Malaysia’s opposition to the ILS that Singapore wants to use from January 3 next year.
The video explained that the flight path used by the ILS — a precision runway approach system that makes it safer for planes to land even with poor visibility — will encroach into Malaysian airspace as Seletar Airport is merely 2km from Malaysia’s Pasir Gudang.
That means all planes that are to land at the Singapore airport will have to go in from over Pasir Gudang in Johor, which is Malaysian airspace.
The video also explains the height buffer of between 54 metres and 154 metres from a distance of 3km and 6km from the Seletar Airport runway, and which would subject Pasir Gudang Port to higher risks and multiple restrictions.
The height limits means that even a mobile crane, which have a height of 103 metres, would be in the way of any descending plane’s flight path, and there are many tall buildings in Johor.
“Our position is very clear. We are not against Seletar, but as far as the descending flight path is concerned, it cannot be over Pasir Gudang,” Loke wrote in a post accompanying the video.
