DAPITAN CITY — The technical glitch involving equipment at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in Manila rendered helpless the over 300 airline passengers here.
Stranded passengers who are bound to either Cebu City or Manila are waiting a word for their flights as the CAAP has yet to give a clear advisory when the regular flights will be back.
The CAAP admitted that the technical glitch led to the disruption of flights on New Year’s Day. Worse, the aviation agency admitted the country’s air traffic management system is outdated.
In a statement released on Monday, the CAAP said the three-year old P11-billion Air Traffic Management (ATM) system plus the backup, which both failed on New Year’s Day 2023, stranding hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers, is “already behind when it was first used in 2019.”
“The CAAP’s Aerodrome and Air Navigation Safety Oversight Office (AANSOO) will be tasked to investigate the incident,” according to the agency.
Arnold Alen traveled three (3) hours from Godod town in Zamboanga del Norte to reach the airport, even if he learned that the flights were cancelled yesterday, in the hope of catching his flight to Manila today, but like other passengers he ended up getting stranded.
“Hindi po sila nagmessage sa akin na cancel ‘yong flight, hindi ako nakatanggap ng message may contact naman. Kanina kung natuloy po kami ng 10am, mahabol ko po ‘yong trabaho doon. Tapos ngayon naman kung magparebook kami hanggang 3,4,5 so ang ano po naming sa 6 na (They did not message me that my flight is cancelled, I did not receive any word when they have my contact number. My flight was supposedly at 10:00am, I can still catch up to my workm now if we rebook it will be on (January) 3,4,5, so, we can work on the 6th),” a frustrated Alen narrated.
Seafarer Ruben Elep is frustrated, he need to catch up a training in Manila tomorrow as he is scheduled to fly out to Greece on January 10.
Elep said “Hindi sila nag-advise agad na cancel ‘yong flight di maaga kaming pumunta rito. Alas syete naghintay na kami ‘yon pala cancelled naman ‘yong flight. (cut) bibigyan sana kami ng opportunity na makasakay ngayon. Kailangan ko ‘yong seminar ko bukas. Bukas ng maaga dapat nandoon na ako kasi kukuha ako ng visa (They did not advise us that our flights are cancelled, we came early, we arrived here at 7:00am, we waited, only to find out our flights are cancelled, We expect to be given an opportunity today because my seminar tomorrow is very important. Tomorrow morning I must be there because I will apply for my visa).”
Engineer Ralph Kevin Canton of CAAP Dipolog said “We have one cancelled flight to Manila today it was rerouted to Mactan Cebu Airport, only Cebu Pacific was cancelled, but Philippine Airlines also cancelled due to technical issue, but some flights were successful.”
The CAAP personnel are helping the passengers to rebook their tickets.
For the entire Region IX, only Pagadian Airport is having a regular flight but the authorities are also not sure if they will not be affected by the flight cancellation.
In a virtual press conference on Sunday night, CAAP Director General Capt. Manuel Tamayo said the technology behind the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) of the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center was visualized in the late 1990s, and was completed just in 2019.
According to Tamayo, even before the glitch happened, he already recommended to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the country use a more modern air traffic management system,-Dynah Gay Diestro
