Airlines ready for May 17 airspace closure

MANILA, Philippines — Airlines have started rescheduling flights that will be hit by the six-hour shutdown of Philippine airspace on May 17, with authorities trying to shorten the period of travel disruption to mitigate the impact.

Cebu Pacific spokesman Carmina Romero told The STAR that the low-cost carrier would come out with a travel advisory as soon as all the flights that will be affected are identified.

“We are still assessing, (but we) will release an advisory on the impact on our flight schedules,” Romero said, adding that Cebu Pacific, which flies an average of 2,600 trips per week, would send out an advisory at least a week before May 17.

For Philippine Airlines, spokesman Cielo Villaluna said the flag carrier is preparing its own advisory for the hours-long disruption and would release this once ready.

As for AirAsia Philippines, spokesman Steve Dailisan said the maintenance of air traffic control systems would disrupt at least 40 of the airline’s flights.

“The repair of the CNS-ATM (Communications, Navigation and Surveillance-Air Traffic Management) system is a positive development towards ensuring safer skies for all, especially within the Philippine Flight Information Region. AirAsia Philippines is expressing its support to our industry partners in this crucial exercise. We’ve been working closely with them since the beginning to mitigate any inconvenience among our guests. This involves our request with the slot committee for the retiming of our flights that will be affected due to the repair,” Dailisan said

This early, AirAsia Philippines moved to another date its flights to Taipei, Incheon, Bangkok and Kota Kinabalu, as well as domestic flights to Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Puerto Princesa, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo and Tacloban.

It also cancelled the flights from Manila to Davao, Cebu and Bacolod, including their return flights, to make way for the airspace shutdown.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) hopes to cut the maintenance period, which is to run between midnight and six in the morning, to less than six hours to minimize the impact on travel and trade.

During the period, CAAP aims to upgrade its air traffic management system and repair electrical equipment to prevent a repeat of the airspace shutdown last Jan. 1 and the power outage last May 1, both of which disrupted the flights of tens of thousands of passengers.

The Manila International Airport Authority projects some 130 flights with about 20,000 passengers will be disrupted by the resulting closure of local airspace during the maintenance period.

Eric Apolonio, CAAP spokesman, said a Notice to Airmen would be issued and that the public would be informed of the corrective maintenance activity at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center on May 17.

Due diligence

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman said it exercised “due diligence and impartiality” in ordering the six-month preventive suspension of Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Cesar Chiong over a recent power interruption at the country’s flagship airport.

“The Office bases its decisions, orders and resolutions from the evidence on record and exercises due diligence and impartiality in passing upon facts which are relevant or material to the case,” the ombudsman said in a statement yesterday.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, in an order dated April 28, authorized the suspension without pay of Chiong and Irene Montalbo, MIAA acting assistant general manager for finance and administration, over administrative complaints of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

The complaints, filed before the ombudsman by MIAA officials who requested anonymity, stemmed from Chiong’s reassignment of 285 employees allegedly without providing them any reason for doing so. The complainants said Chiong also designated Montalbo as acting assistant general manager despite her unsatisfactory rating.

In its suspension order, the ombudsman said that “based on the evidence on record, it appears that the evidence of guilt of the respondents are strong and the charge against them involves grave misconduct which may warrant their removal from the service.”

Chiong, in a statement on Tuesday, said he is confident he would be cleared after he presents his side, noting that he has yet to see the complaint and be given a chance to respond to the charges.

While the suspension order was signed by Martires on April 28, its was made public only on Tuesday, a day after the May 1 power outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 that stranded thousands of passengers.

The MIAA had earlier stated that it was not ruling out the possibility of sabotage as reason for the NAIA-3 power outage supposedly to embarrass the government and the MIAA leadership.

MIAA senior assistant general manager Bryan Co, on Wednesday, was named as MIAA’s officer-in-charge following Chiong’s preventive suspension. – Rudy Santos, Elizabeth Marcelo