The Senate should approve a second runway
I was in Manila last Sunday and the Domestic Terminal at the Mactan Cebu International Airport was filled with passengers many of whom were still stranded thanks to that Xiamen Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crash landed at the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Incidentally it is Ninoy Aquino’s 35th death anniversary when he was assassinated at the old Manila International Airport, which bears his name today.
It was only last Thursday when I wrote a column in The Philippine STAR that we need an independent body called the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate air, sea and land disasters as asked by the National Air Safety Board. Then last Friday, disaster struck when that Xiamen Airlines planed crash landed off the main runway and literally crippled air traffic.
The headlines of the STAR yesterday blared, “NAIA Fiasco: Senate to summon officials.” In fairness to NAIA, this fiasco wasn’t done by them but by that Xiamen Airline pilot. I talked with my son who told me that when that aircraft landed at the NAIA, the winds were blowing hard as there was a strong rain. The pilot who already tried to land did not opt for an alternate airport and made a second approach, which literally destroyed the Boeing 737.
So what will the Senate find out that we don’t already know? If you ask me, the so-called “fiasco” last weekend was the result of poor planning by the Department of Transportation and Communication which is now called DOTr. I was a private sector director at the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority for 20 years and half of those years were devoted to my requesting the DOTC to give MCIA a second runway.
Whenever I asked for a second runway the answer in Manila is a big fat “No…you don’t need it!” Mind you, MCIA already experienced a plane that had its landing gear collapse and thanks to our quick thinking we were able to buy lifting bags that would elevate a stranded plane to be loaded onto a flatbed truck. I didn’t know NAIA also had a lifting bag, which they used to lift the crashed plane onto a trailer.
In short, what the senators would find is that NAIA needs a second runway. Actually it has a second runway, but it is the old type, which is like a cross so that airplanes could fly out in any wind direction. But jet planes today can take off anywhere, so the best configuration is a parallel runway. The problem with the DOTC is, they did not expect that a small incident like this would disrupt air traffic in the Philippines. This is why we need a second runway for our airports. But then a DOTC bureaucrat thinks this is not needed. Well, tell that to the senators, who do not have any idea about civil aviation operations.
So there you are, the Philippines needs a parallel runway for Mactan, Manila, and Davao and we also need to create a law creating the NTSB. The problem lies in the competency of DOTr officials who should guide our civil aviation industry to new heights.
Mind you, we have new airports in Mactan, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, and soon in Panglao, Bohol. But those airports are vulnerable when airplanes veer out of their landing zones. So it is best to prepare for future problems that happen to the country like what happened last weekend!
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BLACKBOX: I was in Manila last Sunday to attend the 80th birthday bash of Mother Lily Monteverde. I usually do not attend birthday parties especially ones in Manila. But it was a great birthday bash seeing an old friend in Mother Lily who had former president PNoy Aquino there with Manila Mayor Erap Estrada and a bevy of senators like Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, and Cynthia Villar. What made my night was when Governor. Vilma Santos said hi to me and I asked her if she remembers me and she said you are from Cebu. Then I reminded her of the movie “Yakapin Mo Matapang na Lakali” with Lito Lapid when Edu Manzano was courting Ate V and eventually married her. It was a great night to be in showbiz again!
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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