New scheme plans to reduce airports congestion

AVIATION authorities are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to reduce congestion at the premier airport.

Lately, the Manila International Airport Authority ( MIAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines ( CAAP) came out with an announcement that they would soon implement a new scheme to address flight delays by adopting a more efficient implementation of the current policy on flight movements per hour.

Currently, the traffic movement calls for 40 airplanes to land and take- off every hour. Anything outside of that number has to wait, that’s why we see airplanes flying over the designated holding pattern waiting for their turn to land.

Those running out of fuel or those airplanes who do not want to wait more than 30 minutes simply fly to Clark, only 15 minutes away, and wait until their turn to come back and land at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The MIAA- CAAP announced that henceforth, ten flight movements will be grouped into 15-minute block periods to ensure compliance with the policy of having a maximum of 40 movements per hour.

The authorities discussed the new scheme with the Civil Aeronautics Board and with executives of domestic airlines.

Scheduled arriving and departing flights beyond 10 movements per block time will be retimed and accommodated in the next quarter-hour.

Likewise, flights which will be unable to meet their original schedule will be retimed to the next block period to guarantee the on- time performance of other flights, the MIAA- CAAP said.

Airline executives like Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista, PAL Express Vice President for Ground Operations Bryan Lim, Cebu Pacific Chief Executive Adviser Garry Kingshott, Cebgo President Michael Shau, and Air Asia Zest Chairwoman Maan Hontiveros agreed to the new measure.

They requested more time to review how to align their internal procedures with the new measure.

General Manager Jose Angel Honrado thanked the airline executives, saying it is high time that the authorities and the airlines set aside differences to enhance the experience of every passenger through effective collaboration.

Further consultations will be conducted by the MIAA with foreign airlines and its slot coordinator, Airport Coordination Australia, to finalize the measure.