Friday , 29 March 2024

What plagues the airline industry?

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) organized recently the first-ever Philippine Aviation Summit that gathered the various stakeholders in the local civil-aviation industry. 

Common concerns were discussed, including, but not limited to, the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia); indeed, airport congestion is the leading cause of flight delays that make up the bulk of the complaints of passengers, as these inevitably derail travel plans.

But officials of the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa), which is supposed to administer airport affairs, as its name suggests, refuse to acknowledge the problem. They pass the buck to airline operators. Or to other agencies.

For instance, the Miaa said the Caap is responsible for the design of all airports in the country. Ergo, the Caap is to blame that Naia has only one runway, which is the main cause of the congestion there.

Recently, Miaa proposed to build a fifth airport terminal to decongest Naia. But Miaa also can’t seem to see that even with additional accommodations in a new terminal, airplanes would still have to line up, as they do now, for Naia’s lone runway. Decongestion would get worse.

Earlier, San Miguel Corp. proposed to President Aquino to build a new international airport on the waters of Manila Bay near Cavite. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), however, shelved the build-operate-transfer project, opting instead for the development of Clark as alternative airport. But the highway linking Manila to Clark must first be improved.

Various foreign airlines want to fly to Manila. The different government agencies—DOTC, DOT, DFA—that negotiate with foreign governments for air treaties are very generous in giving additional flights to foreign mega carriers.

They all want to attract more visitors into the country. But they are not encouraging these foreign airlines to fly directly to provincial airports. Is this their way of silently acknowledging the lack of infrastructure improvements, not just at airports but also on roads leading to and from these gateways?

A classic example is the Caticlan airport that directly links to Boracay. The government has yielded its obligation to improve Caticlan to the private sector, particularly San Miguel Corp., which is extending the runway to accommodate bigger airplanes.

Another case is Laguindingan airport in Cagayan de Oro, whose long and unlit highway linking the airport to the city proper has passengers constantly worried of potential kidnappings, like what happened recently on Samal island in Davao.

The aviation industry is booming. All indicators point to Asia as the frontrunner in industry growth. This is why airlines from Europe and the Middle East want more flights to the Philippines.

But to take advantage of this booming industry, our government must now officially acknowledge the sad state of our provincial airports. And do something about it, pronto! While some are of international standards, such as Cebu, Davao, General Santos and Laoag, the rest are way below standards. Most even lack basic navigational aids to allow night-landing operations. If these airports could only be developed, foreign airlines would not have to crowd Naia; they could fly direct to tourist destinations.

But technocrats in the government all seem to be in a campaign mode these days; they just have no time for these problems.

At the Caap-sponsored Aviation Summit, Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Jaime J. Bautista proposed to join the government in developing tourist gateways and in solving the Naia congestion problem but no one seemed to have even acknowledged the offer.

Today, PAL is looking for new aircraft to replace the four-engine Airbus 340. Last year, PAL retired the Boeing 747, to be replaced by the Boeing 777-300ERs. PAL is looking for fuel-efficient aircraft with modern cabin amenities.

Deliveries of 34 Airbus 321 airplanes will expand PAL’s fleet until year 2024. Buying airplanes does not come cheap. But the refleeting means PAL wants to tap the industry growth momentum.

By using new planes (PAL fleet today stands at 78 airplanes) and opening new destinations (before the end of 2015, PAL will launch flights to Cairns in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea), PAL hopes to continue its profitable operations.

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