The air congestion now bedeviling the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) will to be greatly reduced within the first quarter of next year, according to aviation authorities, with the completion of several projects for a more efficient management of air traffic.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) Deputy Director General Manuel Antonio L. Tamayo said the much-delayed communication navigation system (CNS) and its adjunct project, the air-traffic management (ATM), would have been in place by early 2017.
“The government had constructed 12 radar stations across the Philippines as adjunct to the CNS/ATM to monitor each arriving and departing flights, and these would greatly speed up the landing and takeoff, contributing to the efficiency of the Naia,” Tamayo said at the Kapihan sa Manila Hotel media forum.
He said air-traffic controllers and other technical experts have been sufficiently trained as part of the CNS/ATM package.
“Right now, they are doing ‘shadow’ training, comparing the airplanes they see on the current radar system with this next generation system that is also linked to satellite in space,” Tamayo said.
He added that the Caap has set aside P50 million to improve the runway at Sangely Point, Cavite, to speed up the transfer of turbo prop-type airplanes belonging to the general aviation sector.
“Our target for Sangley’s completion is next year because the Department of Transportation [DOTr] had also contributed P700 million to upgrade the facilities at Sangley,” Tamayo said.
Caap Director General Jim Sydiongco, on the other hand, said that as a prelude to the full operation of the CNS/ATM, the agency has just installed near the Naia runway an important component of the CNS/ATM technology.
“When this system is in full operation, we could be able to claim that the Naia is now on a par with the rest of the world with a sophisticated system that is in accordance with the standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization,” Sydiongco said.
“The CNS/ATM system is comprised of a computer-based flight data-processing system that will enable aircraft operators to meet their scheduled departure and arrival and stick to their preferred flight plans with minimum constraints and without compromising agreed levels of safety. It would also extend surveillance of aircraft and improve navigational accuracy,” a flyer of the system stated.
Sydiongco said the whole apparatus is situated at the Caap compound in Pasay City, which has been under construction for the last five years.
He added that in 1983, the Icao has determined that the system and procedures supporting civil aviation had reached their limits, and established the Special Committee on Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) to develop new system that would overcome the limitations of conventional system and allow air traffic management to develop on a global scale.
“In July 1991 the 10th Air Navigation Conference endorsed the concept for a future air navigation system as developed by the FANS Committee,” he said, adding that the concept was eventually known as the CNS/ATM system.
This is a complex and interrelated set of technologies, dependent largely on satellites and could be adjusted to quickly adopt to the changing air-traffic requirements, Sydiongco added.
Meanwhile, Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Ed Monreal, who is also one of the forum’s guest, said landing and takeoff at the Naia would speed-up when the next two sets of the P330-million rapid exit taxiways (RET) are in place.
He said the two previous RET’s are for smaller aircrafts, while the new set of two RETS are for wide-body jetliners.
“Wide-body aircraft landing on runway 06-24 would be able to exit at a fast clip by simply slipping into the RET without reducing speed or completely stopping before clearing the runway,” Monreal said.
“That way, those waiting in line for takeoff would be able to take off as soon as the landing aircraft had cleared the runway in a jiffy,” he added.
He said among other improvements, the Miaa had also set aside P180 million to put in place “stop bars,” which are a set of lighting on the ground that pilots would follow shortly after landing to direct them to their parking slots on the airport ramp.
The Miaa has also set aside some P400 million to retrofit the Naia Terminal 2 and increase its passenger capacity in preparation for the expected influx of passengers and as part of Philippine Airlines (PAL) expansion plans.
Naia Terminal 2 is the terminal for all PAL’s international and domestic flights.
At the same Kapihan forum, Monreal also said starting March 2017, overseas Filipino workers (OFW) would be exempted from paying the P500 airport terminal fee purchased online or from any ticket offices abroad.
“Starting late March, OFW’s would no longer pay the oppressive airport fee imposed by former [the] airport administration,”he said.
Former Miaa chief General (ret.) Jose Angel Honrado crafted the edict that would compel OFW’s to pay the international passenger service charge (IPSC), which requires departing OFWs to pay the additional P550 fee on top of the cost of the airline tickets bought online or from airline ticket offices.
Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said Monreal is about to finish the technical details, along with the international airlines, to eliminate the IPSC, which he said was opposed by millions of OFW’s across the world.
Exemption
AT the same Kapihan forum, Monreal also said starting March 2017, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would be exempted from paying the P500 airport terminal fee purchased online or from any ticket offices abroad.
“Starting late March, OFWs would no longer pay the oppressive airport fee imposed by [the] former airport administration,”he said.
Honrado crafted the edict that would compel OFWs to pay the IPSC, which requires departing OFWs to pay the additional P550 fee on top of the cost of the airline tickets bought online or from airline ticket offices.
Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said Monreal is about to finish the technical details, along with the international airlines, to eliminate the IPSC, which he said was opposed by millions of OFWs across the world.
The airport fee, which was opposed by both Houses of Congress, passed a resolutions urging the Miaa to stop the collection of the fee.
Honrado, a retired air force general and relative of former President Benigno S. Aquino III, disregarded the congressional resolution. Honrado believed that paying the fee in advance, to be reimbursed later at the Naia, would reduce passenger congestion at the premier airport.
The collected fee, which was imposed on February of 2015, is estimated to be in the millions of pesos, according to Geslani.
“About half of those millions of un-refunded amount went to the general fund of the Naia,” Geslani said, adding that Monreal is ready to give back the refund to OFW passengers who were unable to get their P550 when they left the country.
OFWs wanting to get their money back has to possess the E-ticket, boarding pass and passport, and could get their refund even after several years, Monreal assured.