Signs of the times

THE maintenance work at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport lasted only for nearly two hours, but it still delayed at least 47 flights as Philippine airspace was shut down anew early Sunday morning, January 22.

It was a continuation of the problem that crippled air travel in and out of the country on New Year’s Day. As initial investigation showed, a cooling fan broke down on Jan. 1, making the uninterrupted power supply for the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance for Air Traffic Management system break down. The standby UPS, however, failed to kick in. When the CNS / ATM was connected to the NAIA’s commercial power line, a circuit breaker failed to work and the system was fried, grounding flights across the country. The probe is not yet complete.