RESPONSE TO ARTICLES “MONTH-LONG SUSPENSION OF AIR SPACE RA AND ILS” DATED 8 JANUARY 2019, “NO SELETAR-BOUND PLANES FLYING OVER PASIR GUDANG TODAY” DATED 9 JANUARY 2019, AND “SINGAPORE SUSPENDS AIRPORT ILS” DATED 9 JANUARY 2019

13 January 2019

Editor-in-Chief

New Straits Times

RESPONSE TO ARTICLES “MONTH-LONG SUSPENSION OF AIR SPACE RA AND ILS” DATED 8 JANUARY 2019, “NO SELETAR-BOUND PLANES FLYING OVER PASIR GUDANG TODAY” DATED 9 JANUARY 2019, AND “SINGAPORE SUSPENDS AIRPORT ILS” DATED 9 JANUARY 2019

The article “Month-Long Suspension of Air Space RA and ILS” (New Straits Times, 8 January 2019) states that “… Seletar airport-bound flights would not be allowed to use Pasir Gudang airspace during [the suspension] period”. Further, the article “Singapore Suspends Airport ILS” (New Straits Times, 9 January 2019) states that “[f]lights bound for Seletar Airport cannot use Pasir Gudang airspace for one month.” These statements are incorrect.

2              Additionally, the article “No Seletar-Bound Planes Flying over Pasir Gudang Today” (New Straits Times, 9 January 2019) states that “… no aircraft was seen flying over Pasir Gudang beginning today” as evidence that Singapore is adhering to the agreement to suspend the implementation of Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures for Seletar Airport and Malaysia’s permanent Restricted Area (RA) over Pasir Gudang. This statement misrepresents the effect of the suspension.

3              On 8 January 2019, the Foreign Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore agreed to the suspension of Singapore’s implementation of the ILS procedures for Seletar Airport and Malaysia’s permanent RA over Pasir Gudang. This agreement has been implemented with effect from 9 January 2019. Contrary to what the articles state, the effect of the suspension is that flights arriving at or departing from Seletar Airport can continue to operate using visual procedures along the normal established flight paths traversing Johor airspace. These flight paths have been in use for decades before the establishment of the permanent RA.

4              The article “Singapore Suspends Airport ILS” also contains an infographic titled “How ILS will affect Malaysian airspace”, setting out the purported “Height Buffer for Flight Path” at the 3km mark and at the 6km mark away from Seletar Airport. The diagram is inaccurate and misleading. The Seletar ILS procedures have been designed to accommodate tall structures on the flight path that are as high as 93.8m (not 54m as the diagram states) at the 3km mark, and 193.1m (not 145m as the diagram states) at the 6km mark. For an accurate depiction of how the ILS procedures for Seletar Airport were designed, please refer to the Annex below.

5              I hope that this clarification will set the record straight. Please publish this clarification in full.

Yours faithfully,

Zhiping Lin

Press Officer

High Commission of the Republic of Singapore in Kuala Lumpur

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ANNEX

SELETAR ILS PROCEDURES DESIGNED IN ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO) REQUIREMENTS