Airlines asked to prepare as PH airspace...

PAGE 1

Tuesday, May 2 said the maintenance activity had been coordinated last week to give the airlines “lead time” in recalibrating flight schedules and informing their passengers.

The MIAA will meet with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) and other airport authorities on Wednesday, May 3, to hear the plans of the airlines in response to the scheduled maintenance of the Communications, Navigations, Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system.

“These are all proactive efforts to make sure that the CNS/ATM is reliable as an offshoot of what happened earlier this year,” Co said, referring to the Jan. 1 aviation mess that affected around 56,000 passengers and 361 domestic and international flights to and from Manila.

The technical glitch in January that shut down the country’s airspace happened after a UPS unit failed to work because one of its cooling blowers conked out.

On Monday, May 1, the Labor Day holiday, an eight-hour power outage disrupted operations at Naia Terminal 3, leading to flight delays and cancellations that affected more than 9,000 passengers.

Advisory sent early

In an April 28 advisory, Caap informed the public of the corrective maintenance activity scheduled on May 3, from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., and May 17, from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m., that would result in the suspension of operations at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC), which houses the CNS/ATM system.

Caap said the maintenance would involve the repair of the automatic voltage regulator (AVR), replacement of the UPS, and upgrade of the air traffic management system power supply.

“An AVR functions as a protection against surges as it regulates the voltage delivered to devices and a UPS ensures equipment has uninterruptible power supply,” it said.

It will affect the flights at Naia, Clark International Airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport, and several flights in 42 other airports operated by Caap.

“The earlier that the airlines can advise the passengers, the better because of these planned changes in their itinerary,” Co said.

For six hours on May 17, he said there would be no activity in the entire Philippine airspace but if the maintenance would be completed earlier, the Notice to Airmen would be lifted immediately and the operations at the ATMC would resume.

“Let’s say the flight is supposed to arrive in Davao by 12 a.m., [the plane] should be there in Davao by 12. So its last flight out of

IATF to Marcos: No need

PAGE 1 women, let’s choose to wear masks,” she added.

Vergeire also called on the public to get vaccinated and boosted to increase their protection against the virus.

In September last year, Marcos made the wearing of face masks outdoors optional. He signed an executive order the next month making the wearing of masks indoors voluntary, except in health care facilities and public transportation.

The DOH had argued against lifting the mask mandate in late 2022, saying it was too soon to do so even if cases were down.

Admissions remain low