More airports are being readied for night operations this year 2017 to further ease problem on air traffic congestion, especially at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
In his yearend report, CAAP chief Jim Sydiongco said 2016 was a very productive year for the aviation regulatory agency in charge of air safety and security of aircraft and airports in the country.
In 2016, 19 airport facilities, including Naia, the country’s premier airport, have already complied and are now capable of night activities, Sydiongco said.
The other airports are Mactan-Cebu, Clark, Subic, Davao, Laoag, Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Kalibo, Zamboanga, General Santos, Bacolod, Laguindingan, Tacloban, Butuan, Legaspi, Dumaguete (Runway 27 only), Roxas and Caticlan.
The CAAP also aims to widen various airport runways to make landing and takeoff safer for aircraft. These airports include Kalibo, Virac, Calbayog, Ozamiz and Cotabato.
Sydiongco’s report also stated that Naia posted an 80.2 percent On Time Performance in its flight departure slot schedules.
CAAP is strictly implementing the rule allowing a maximum of 40 flight movements per hour, which is the required combined number of hourly takeoffs and landings by air carriers operating at Naia.
Improving CAAP’s air traffic service system will significantly reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions, and increase efficiency by way of information exchange with stakeholders that would avoid delays on inbound aircraft on the country’s airports, Sydiongco said.
By mid-2017, the Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management technology will be put in place and operational at the CAAP main office in Pasay City, he added.
“The Philippines would be able to monitor 80 percent of the Manila Flight Information Region, as assigned to the Philippines by the International Civil Aviation Organization [with the technology],” the report further stated.
Aviation authorities said the CNS/ATM technology, which includes a computer-based flight data processing system, will enable aircraft operators to meet their planned times of departure and arrival, and adhere to their preferred flight profiles with minimum constraints and without compromising agreed levels of safety.
With this technology, which started worldwide in 2000, the billing for overflights would be done automatically by computers so that there would no longer be lapses or flights that do not get properly billed.
The system development project was first conceptualized alongside the International Civil Aviation Organization Global Air Navigation Plan.
The utilization of this system covers the Philippine airspace. It is expected to be turned over from the Sumitomo-Thales Joint Project this month.
Eric Apolonio, CAAP media communication office chief, said the agency is now hastening the completion of the state-of-the-art facilities, which will be fully operational by April.
They will need 500 more air traffic controllers in the next five years when the satellite-based CNS/ATM system becomes operational, Apolonio added.
Early this month, Sydiongco accompanied Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Philippine Airlines president Jaime Bautista and other airline stakeholders in inspecting the two-story facilities at the CAAP compound along Old MIA Road in Pasay City.
The project, which began during the administration of then-President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under the aegis of the ICAO, was supposed to be finished in 2005, then moved to 2007 and 2010 until it was finally abandoned for lack of funds.
Since then, neighboring countries have adopted the CNS/ATM but the Philippines remains one of the few countries that lack this high-tech, satellite-based air traffic and communications system.
In 2013, the Commission on Audit cleared the resumption of the aviation surveillance project to modernize the CAAP’s system.
During the ICA Day program, Tugade led the awarding of top airport facilities that comply with the Civil Aviation Regulations governing aerodromes and manual standards. These airports are namely Clark, Mactan-Cebu, Davao and Iloilo International Airports.
