CAAP directs airlines to submit flight skeds

MANILA, Philippines - The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has directed all airlines to submit flight schedules for the “winter” season starting Oct. using the mandatory 40-minute turn-around time.

Capt. John Andrews, CAAP deputy director general, issued Memorandum Circular 38 – 13 directing Philippine domestic air carriers to submit approval for winter schedules to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to promote safer and more efficient operations.

 â€œAll airlines shall submit approval for Winter schedules to the CAB with the appropriate 40-minute ground time,” Andrews stated in the memo dated Aug. 6.

The order covers the Airbus A319 and A320 fleet of domestic air carriers.

“Scheduled turn around for all domestic operations to exclude Manila, Clark, and Mactan (being home bases) is to be 40 minutes for all A319 or 320 type of aircraft,” Andrews added.

He enjoined all domestic air carriers to strictly adhere to the memo.

 â€œFailure to comply will be cause for CAB to disallow such request,” Andrews warned.

CAAP has decided to defer the implementation of a minimum 40 -minute scheduled ground time for the domestic flights of budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) last Aug. 1 so as not to affect at least 7,000 passengers.

The regulator decided to call off the implementation of an order requiring Cebu Pacific to adopt a 40-minute ground time for domestic flights instead of the original plan of 45 minutes from the current 30 minutes today.

Instead, the mandatory scheduled ground time would be imposed on all airlines particularly low cost carrier as early as the start of the “winter” season or on Oct. 1.

The implementation of the order on the scheduled ground time for Cebu Pacific last Aug. 1 would have affected a total of 75 flights involving about 7,000 passengers.

The CAAP chief earlier explained that the policy on scheduled ground time only covers domestic flights as international flights have a longer ground time of over 45 minutes.

Unlike domestic flights, he added that international flights have not been involved in a similar accident such as the four accidents involving aircraft of Cebu Pacific.

For his part, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Angel Honrado earlier said the longer scheduled ground time would give pilots and co-pilots more time to do their duties and even rest.