EDITORIAL - Black eye for the Phl

With the gradual easing of pandemic travel restrictions, the Department of Tourism recorded 2.6 million arrivals in 2022. Despite the continuing emergence of new strains of the COVID virus, the travel industry is expected to continue its recovery this year.

All countries are preparing to deal with this recovery, and working to boost their competitiveness as travel destinations. The year opened with the Philippines unfortunately getting a black eye in this competition. Chaos reigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from mid-morning of Jan. 1 after “technical issues” forced the cancellation of hundreds of domestic and international flights.

Yesterday afternoon, the Manila International Airport Authority reported that the “technical issues” in the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management had been resolved. Flight disruptions, however, are expected to continue until Jan. 4. The technical issues hit the CNS/ATM of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines at the height of one of the busiest travel seasons, when people were rushing to return home following the holiday break.

Among the thousands who were stranded were overseas Filipino workers returning to their jobs in their host countries. Rebooking flights, especially those with interconnections, can be a challenge even during non-peak travel seasons. It can be a nightmare during peak season. Affected carriers had to scramble for aircraft. The suspension of all flights to and from the NAIA meant that some flights had to be held back while planes that were already airborne had to be diverted to other airports.

The NAIA has had some improvements in the past years, but the New Year’s Day glitch exposed the lingering inadequacies of the airport. CAAP officials said the CNS/ATM suffered a power outage last Monday morning. A standby uninterrupted power system came on, but this also broke down. Transport officials said the malfunction could have been caused by spare parts that had needed replacement for some time now. Procurement of the spare parts, however, took a back seat as government resources were poured into the COVID response, the officials said. The Manila Electric Co. said there was no power outage, fluctuation or related problems in its NAIA distribution network.

Airports give indelible first and last impressions of a country. The NAIA, the country’s busiest gateway and one of the oldest airports in Asia, has been progressively left behind by main gateways in neighboring countries, which poured resources into the continuing upgrade of their air traffic facilities. Those airports became regional hubs for many foreign carriers, allowing direct flights to many foreign destinations and boosting their tourism competitiveness.

The chaos at the NAIA on the first day of 2023 is an eye-opener on the sorry state of the country’s main airport, which needs urgent attention.