The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Wednesday requested for congressional assist in its plans to improve the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s air visitors administration system which malfunctioned on New Year’s day and affected over 56,000 passengers.
During the House transportation panel listening to, CAAP performing director normal Manuel Antonio Tamayo mentioned they may proceed with their plans “to keep away from this type of circumstance from occurring once more.”
The plans for the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS-ATM) include:
- immediately restore and enhance the CNS-ATM to its original design before the incident;
- procurement of the Ultimate Fallback System which is considered a system upgrade;
- construction of an Independent Back-up for the current CNS-ATM; and;
- hire a third-party contractor to provide oversight.
“Nevertheless, we will be needing the help and assistance of this honorable committee in making these plans come into reality. This is of course to provide better service to our fellow Filipinos and our country, which may further boost our tourism industry,” Tamayo added.
He earlier told the Senate inquiry that the air traffic system of NAIA is already due for upgrading since 2020, however this improve has been delayed as a consequence of a dispute involving claims between contractor Thales and the Department of Transportation.
Tamayo additionally apologized for the company’s differing statements on what triggered the air visitors administration system malfunction final January 1 that resulted in Philippine airspace shutdown.
It could possibly be recalled that CAAP initially pinpointed the issue to an uninterrupted energy provide (UPS) that didn’t work. It, nevertheless, clarified throughout a House listening to final week {that a} defective circuit breaker triggered the issue.
Since then, the CAAP has determined to purchase two model new UPS.
“We humbly apologize for the confusion caused by the several statements issued by the CAAP. Please take note that it was never our intention to do so. The differences in the reports are due to our bid to be transparent to the public, that we provide updates to the media and other government agencies as they happen,” Tamayo mentioned.
“It was not until the engineers were able to determine that the probable cause of the disruption was the circuit breaker after a series of remedial measures, and evaluation. There were intervals in our official reports as our controllers, engineers, and technical staff were all working together to ensure the safety of all aircraft queued for landing and to quickly restore power without further damaging our vital equipment,” he added.
Tamayo then maintained that CAAP attended to the emergency in probably the most expeditious approach they have been educated to do to make sure swift and secure resumption of operations.
“All our assessment, evaluation, and theories as to the probable cause of the disruption only came clear after the situation had normalized,” he added.
Tamayo mentioned aside from the broken circuit breaker, their inquiry revealed that the Power Transfer Switch was additionally broken throughout the January 1 airport fiasco.
“Both items were turned-over to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) last January 9 for forensic investigation and examination to ensure impartiality,” he mentioned.
“We also want to inform everyone that the external investigation handled by other government agencies previously mentioned is still ongoing,” he added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
