The department is responsible for providing air traffic control services to all aircraft operating within the Hong Kong Flight Information Region.

CAD includes the following divisions: The agency is headquartered at Hong Kong International Airport on Chek Lap Kok.

[2] In late 2016, CAD introduced a new air traffic system which attracted concerns over the increased risk of safety within Hong Kong airspace.

On 8 February, a FactWire investigation showed that there were 6 cases of safety incidents involving “loss of separation” in January 2017 due to technical issues with CAD's new air traffic management system (ATMS).

As a comparison, it was noted that only 10 incidents of "loss of separation" occurred per year under the previous system, with such cases being treated as very serious due to the risk of mid-air collision.