THE head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said on Monday that authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) have long been aware of its “very critical” congestion problem and that, in fact, several steps have already been taken to address it.
But Ramon Gutierrez, Caap director general, virtually acknowledged the government’s helplessness, saying the efforts exerted have not made any dent on the problem.
He told the BusinessMirror the government was warned as far back as 1997 that in 2015, or four years from now, the problem would “blow up in the faces of authorities” if they do not force all commercial airlines to transfer to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.
“We have ordered the transfer of 15 flying schools out of the Naia, and the Caap had provided nighttime landing operations to scores of secondary and provincial airports as part of the solution to decongest the premier airport,” Gutierrez said.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency made three studies since 1997 that were submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to show the urgency of the situation. But the problem has persisted, he said.
The issue was revived by Capt. Benjamin Solis, former pilot and former chief executive of two international cargo-handling airlines, who told the BusinessMirror over the weekend about a similar study he made.
Gutierrez said foreign airlines have refused to use other airports in the country because although they were “night-capable,” they were not commercially viable, meaning, they don’t have the passengers needed.
“Jetstar of Australia was allowed to operate out of the Davao International Airport but it complained there is no passenger traffic in that Southern part of the Philippines,” Gutierrez said.
One drastic solution would be to close Naia so that all 30 members of the Airline Operators Council would be compelled to transfer to the DMIA, Gutierrez said.
But he added that the solution really lies with the DOTC, not with the Caap or the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa).
Solis’s disclosure came at a time when the country’s premier airport is still trying to get out of its Category 2 aviation safety status.
Solis, in a press forum on Friday in Davao City, also said 10 airports have long asked to be freed from the operational control of the burdened Caap.
They asked that they be allowed to grow on their own and help the country push tourism by acquiring more international air linkages, aviation executives said.
Of the 10 airports, Solis could only identify seven after the DOTC set aside the recommendation. These were the airports in Laoag, Puerto Princesa, Kalibo, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro.
Gutierrez, when informed of Solis’s proposal, readily agreed.
“Actually, I’m pushing for it,” he said. Under the proposal, a Philippine Airport Authority would govern all the airports so as to free the Caap from the burden of running 86 airports, except Naia, Clark and Subic and Mactan.
“The Caap is now a regulatory body, not a service provider, and I heard that the proposal is now on second reading in Congress,” Gonzales said.
If the plan pushes through, the Caap would be the equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration in the US, which has oversight functions over all airports.
Gutierrez said the proposal was first aired during the tenure of Miaa General Manager Alfonso Cusi, who was then being groomed to be the overall head of the airport authorities to be created.
Instead of a single airport authority, Solis said he has recommended a regional airport authority, “operating on a hub-and-spoke model.”
“For Davao City, for example, this would be the hub where other nearby airports in General Santos City, Cotabato, Butuan and Surigao would serve as the minor airports supporting the Davao airport,” he said.
This way, he said, the regional airport authorities would earn through the economy of scale.
This would be an innovation “much like that of Clark, which is not an authority but a corporation.”
Sebastian Angliongto, former president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Davao International Airport “has been subsidizing the other airports, when the income could have gone to improve its facilities and to expand infrastructure”.
Davao City Rep. Mylene Garcia (Second District) said she would re-file a bill that sought the creation of an authority for the Davao airport. She said she has already assigned her staff to gather all the data.
Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corp., meanwhile, has already tendered a sisterhood agreement with Davao in his talk during the Davao Investment Conference on Friday. “We can get one flight in the Clark-Davao destination,” he said.
He disclosed that he already suggested this to Air Asia, which recently bought its first new Airbus from France and would operate a budget-airline business in the domestic and international routes.
“We’ll just have to wait for the company to go into full operation,” he said.
On the proposed transfer of the Naia to the DMIA, Gutierrez said many of the country’s neighbors have alternate airports but they are about 40 kilometers away, whereas the DMIA is more than 80 km from the entrance at Caloocan.
The distance from Manila to Caloocan requires another hour of travel because of heavy traffic.
A high-speed railway had been proposed, but this is still in the planning stage, although the North Luzon Expressway is now wide enough to be used, he said.
Other infrastructure lacking at the DMIA are a passenger terminal able to accommodate millions of passengers, a large-capacity cargo bonded warehouses and related facilities.
Before he was yanked out of the Caap, Cusi made a study to construct two parallel runways at Naia.
His plan was to make the present taxiway 06-24 a separate runway, while the present 06-24 runway would be moved toward Merville Subdivision to create enough distance between the two runways for simultaneous operations.
Cusi had said the plan would be finished in two to three years at a cost of about P2 billion to P5 billion.
Gutierrez said Cusi’s plan was considered but it was found that the cost of expropriating existing homes at Merville would be prohibitive. Moreover, if a single homeowner would refuse to budge, the whole scheme would be paralyzed.
He said several alternate airports had been proposed to be built, such as on Talim Island in Laguna deBay, another in Obando, Bulacan, and in Taguig. But this exists only in the drawing board, Gutierrez said, adding that Clark would still be the logical choice.
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By: Recto Mercene and Manuel Cayon
Source: Business Mirror, Aug. 22, 2011
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