Special powers for air traffic woes

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation wants special powers to authorize the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to address air traffic particularly in the congested Manila airport through the utilization of other airports.

A copy of the overview of the state of transportation in the country sent by the Transport department to media showed the agency wants to use the special powers to address traffic not just in Metro Manila’s roads, but also in the country’s main international gateway.

“(The) solution (would be) special powers to authorize CAB to redistribute air traffic to Clark, Davao and other developmental international gateways,” the Transport department said.

Last year, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) served over 36 million passengers, higher than the airport’s annual maximum capacity of 35 million passengers.

The Department of Transportation has earlier said it wants to promote the use of the Clark International Airport to decongest the NAIA.

To promote the Clark International Airport, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade said the government has plans of building a railway system to link either the NAIA in Pasay or Trinoma mall in Quezon City to the Clark airport.

He said a formal proposal would be submitted by the Department of Transportation as the plan needs to be reviewed by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Apart from the railway system, the department also has plans of moving turboprop or small aircraft from the NAIA to Clark.

The Transport department is likewise planning to remove the general aviation operations or private jets from NAIA to either Sangley, Clark or Subic to decongest the airport once dubbed as the world’s worst.

Philippine Airlines chairman Lucio Tan and Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei have both expressed support for the plan to move the general aviation operations out of the NAIA.

Tugade said the move is expected to give an additional 18 to 21 percent of aviation space to commercial flights in Manila’s airport.

The department, likewise, wants to pursue development of regional airports.