Senators slam Naia flight service failure, warn incident may impact PHL tourism
SEN. Nancy Binay bewailed the recent air traffic system glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) terminals that crippled international and domestic flight operations on Sunday. “Una sa lahat, buti na lamang at walangn angy a ring an um an ga ks id en te ... but what happened last sunday is scary and terrifying, and anyone who has plans of traveling to the Philippines this year may have second thoughts of visiting,” noted Binay, who chairs the Senate Committee on Tourism.
The senator reminded that the Philippines would be hosting several international events in 2023, including the much-awaited 2023 FIBA World Cup. “As we open up our tourism, hindi na dapat maulit ang nangyari. Sadly, we just hogged the headlines in every news channel and newspaper abroad.”
“How do we guarantee a unique high-value experience to our foreign guests if we don’t address, find solutions and fix our broken public transport system?” she asked, adding: “That’s why I am appealing to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] to help in sourcing the needed funds for CAAP [Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines] para maumpisahan na ang pag-upgrade at pag-augment ng mga system at equipment sa ating mga airport. Kung ‘ di natin mapopondohan, wala talagang mang yayari. The bigger picture is fixing our public transport problem for the benefit of all,” Binay noted.
Who’s accountable?
SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian, for his part, goaded airport authorities to ensure the safety and convenience of thousands of stranded plane passengers affected by technical navigation issues, including a power outage situation, causing cancellation and diversion of nearly three hundred incoming and outgoing flights on the first day of the year.
Taking up the cudgels for inconvenienced travelers, the senator stressed, “Airport authorities must attend to the needs of stranded passengers at all affected airports and ensure their safety and convenience until normal airport operations are restored.
“The public, particularly affected passengers, should also be apprised of the latest situation and should be made aware of new f light schedules,” he emphasized.
Gatchalian reminded, “airport authorities should be made accountable for this incident,” noting hordes of airport passengers were stranded not just at Naia but also at various points of departure within and outside the country.
In a news statement, the senator recalled that the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) had said “flight operations have already been partially restored as of 4 p.m. of January 1,” even as the senator reminded that the incident was “likely to cause a domino effect and adversely affect other flights scheduled in the next few hours.”
The lawmaker lamented, “It is unfortunate to see a crisis-like situation such as this at Naia at a time when demand for air travel in the country has just been restored to normal levels,” after the lifting of travel restrictions imposed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The impact
“AIRPORT operations have an impact beyond managing incoming and outgoing flights,” Gatchalian noted, stressing that the Marcos government “must do everything in its power to ensure that this doesn’t happen again given the impact it would have on affected passengers and the negative impression that it would have on our foreign visitors.”
Binay lamented that the incident has left a big setback in the government’s effort to promote the Philippines. “Airport service quality and passenger satisfaction have a great impact on Philippine tourism. ’Yung nangyari sa Naia makes it hard for us to promote traveling to the Philippines when a service attribute has failed. I hope we learn something from this experience and past experiences, and have well-trained airport and airline personnel ready to handle these kinds of extra-ordinary cases, and manage certain amount of chaos to temper an unpleasant situation,” Binay said.
Bothersome, concerning glitch
THE senator added that it is about time to conduct a full audit of all navigational and communications equipment installed in all airports in the country.
According to Binay, the air navigation glitch that stranded thousands of holiday travelers is quite bothersome and concerning. The said technical glitch has result in the loss of power supply, critical navigational communications, radar, radio, and Internet, which has shut Philippine air space for hours.
“Imagine, several hours of inconvenience and unproductive waiting for passengers ... inconvenience to PWDS and senior citizens, losses to tourism and business. This is not the first time that this occurred—there were similar incidents that happened in 2016 and 2018. Our airports, being critical facilities, should have a reliable backup system to handle these kinds of extra-ordinary and emergency situations. What happened on Sunday clearly demonstrates how vulnerable we are, and with either a hardware or software glitch, we can all be crippled,” Binay pointed out.
She added that that the Department of Transportation (DOTR), Office of Transport Security, CAAP, MIAA, Mactan Cebu International Airport and the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. management likewise need to start identifying current and potential hazards related to airport operations.
“Sana matulungan ng DBMSI DOTR Secretary Bautista na mahanapan ng pondo ang kailangang upgrade at equipment ng CAAP for this year. Kailangan na natin itong maumpisahan ngayong taon, kaya importante na makahanap ang Executive Department ng funding source para agad na nating mabigyan ng solusyon ito,” Binay said.