Australia was unaware that Chinese warships were about to conduct live-fire exercises off its east coast until they were alerted to the looming drills by a Virgin Australia pilot, according to testimony from the head of the nation’s air traffic authority.
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As Beijing and Canberra trade accusations over last week’s military exercises, Rob Sharp, chief executive officer of Airservices Australia, told a Senate hearing late Monday that his organisation only became aware of the drills shortly before they began. One of the group’s air traffic controllers was informed by a Virgin pilot, he said.
“That’s how we first found out,” Sharp told a parliamentary panel. The pilot relayed to the Australian controller on Friday morning that “a foreign warship was broadcasting that they were conducting live-firing 300 nautical miles (483km) east off our coast”.
After it was notified, Airservices Australia issued a hazard alert within two minutes to all commercial pilots flying across the Tasman Sea, Sharp said. Shortly after that, Australia’s Department of Defence was notified.
In total, 49 flights diverted around the area of the live-fire drills on Friday and planes continued to avoid the area over the course of the weekend, Airservices Australia said.
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