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Korea will take over management of AKARA corridor
November 29th 2019
Airspace bloc, jointly controlled by Korea and Japan, was anomaly. Read More »
Safer passage and increased flight throughput are expected following an in principle air traffic control management agreement between Japan and Korea and facilitated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Details were first reported by Reuters.
The Incheon Flight Information Region (FIR) has a section in the south known as the AKARA corridor. Despite being in Incheon’s managed territory, it has been jointly managed by Incheon and Japan’s air traffic control centre in Fukuoka. Incheon managed north-south flights and Japan east-west flights. This section of airspace borders Shanghai and many Japanese flights in the section were travelling between Japan and the Chinese city.
Dual control posed challenges. Incheon and Fukuoka control centres are physically apart and operate on different radio frequencies. A specific concern has been that if a flight needs to suddenly descend or divert its movement changes would not be heard by aircraft on the other frequency.
The risks were highlighted in an International Air Transport Association safety bulletin in 2017, the same year ICAO urged the parties to normalise airspace handling.
The agreement will see Korea take over Japan’s handling. The arrangement should be finalised next January or February and implemented in April, ICAO council president, Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, told Reuters.
This sovereign matter has been resolved despite the diplomatic dispute between Japan and Korea. “The glory actually goes to the states who were able to work together to find a solution,” Aliu said. It is not entirely a negative territorial outcome for Japan, as Aliu said Japan would receive an additional air traffic corridor but did not provide details. After the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, China and Korea may establish another airway.
