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View all search resultsQuo vadis, FIR above Riau and Natuna islands?
More effort is needed, considering that Indonesia will most likely not participate in the election for the 2022-2025 ICAO Council.
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T
he Flight Information Region (FIR) above Natuna Island was granted to Singapore under a decision of the Regional Air Navigation (RAN) meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held in 1946 in Dublin, Ireland. The determination of an FIR must be based on flight safety considerations. Due to the lack of facilities, infrastructure and human resource capabilities, the FIR above the Natuna Islands was delegated to Singapore, which was then under the British government. De facto speaking, there are three sectors, A, B and C.
FIR is the airspace on which flight information service and alerting services are provided. All aircraft intending to land at Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam, Raja Hj. Fisabilillah Airport in Tanjung Pinang, Ranai-Natuna Airport, Matak Airport or Raja Haji Abdullah Airport in Tanjung Balai Karimun, must receive approval and permission from Singapore air traffic control. Clearly, this has encouraged the Indonesian government to take over control of the FIR from Singapore.
Since 1993, when the Indonesian government raised the issue of FIR management at the Third RAN meeting in Bangkok, efforts to take control of the FIR have been underway. This meeting decided that Indonesia and Singapore must resolve the issue bilaterally and then report back to the next RAN meeting. As a follow-up to the 1993 RAN meeting, Indonesia sent a delegation to Singapore and vice versa. However, the attempt was unsuccessful, because the two countries did not reach an agreement.
In 1995, both governments reached a bilateral agreement on redrawing the boundary between the Singapore FIR and the Indonesia FIR.
According to this agreement, Indonesia delegates control and management of its airspace over the islands of Riau and Natuna to an altitude of 37,500 feet to Singapore. Additionally, this agreement stipulates that flights to and from Batam, Tanjung Pinang and Changi airports are provided on a first come, first served basis. In accordance with this agreement, Singapore collects air navigation charges on civil flights in some of the airspace Indonesia delegated to Singapore on behalf of and for Indonesia.
The government then enacted Law No. 1/2009 on Aviation in order to provide a legal framework for the process for Indonesia to take over control of the Singapore FIR. Article 458 of the law limits the time to take over navigational control of Indonesian airspace delegated to a foreign nation to 15 years after the effective date of the law. In other words, the government only has until 2024 to take control over the airspace it delegated to Singapore.
In 2015, under the leadership of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the government reaffirmed its intention to take control of the Singapore FIR over the Riau and Natuna islands. In a limited Cabinet meeting, the President issued an order for Indonesia to take control of the Singapore FIR within three years. However, the effort failed in 2018.
