Suspension of Seletar landing system, Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang to end in March

SINGAPORE, Jan 27, 2019, TODAY. Singapore has accepted Malaysia’s counter-proposal to extend until the end of March the mutual suspension of Seletar Airport’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Malaysia’s Restricted Area over Pasir Gudang town in Johor, reported the MalayMail.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said this on Friday, hours after his Malaysian counterpart Anthony Loke told reporters in Malaysia that Putrajaya had suggested a shorter suspension of Seletar Airport’s ILS procedures.

Loke said that Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had proposed that the suspension last until March 31, instead of May 31, which was what Mr Khaw had proposed during a recent meeting.

Dr Mahathir felt that the suspension was too long and needed to be shortened, Loke said.

In response, Mr Khaw wrote in a Facebook post that it was “a good idea to nudge our officials to follow up speedily on what the two ministers had agreed on the way forward.”

He noted that the aviation authorities from both countries have co-ordinated and published new notices to airmen at 6pm on Friday to put the new decision into effect.

“I am happy to see the two regulators working together for the larger good of civil-aviation safety and efficiency in our congested airspace,” Khaw wrote.

After a January 8 meeting between Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah over ongoing territorial disputes, the two sides announced.