Travis Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 Flights cancelled http://www.gmanews.t...tion-of-flights NAIA equipment conks out, causes cancellation of flights At least 50 domestic and international flights were cancelled on Saturday after a navigational equipment at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) conked out, an aviation official said.NAIA’s Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Radio Range (VOR) — a device that directs aircrafts to the runway especially when there is poor visibility — broke down on Saturday morning, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director-general Alfonso Cusi told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.The equipment breakdown caused three airlines to cancel some of their domestic and international flights scheduled for Saturday night. Cebu Pacific marketing head Candace Iyog said in a Bombo Radyo report that the airline has cancelled the following domestic flight due to the technical problem in NAIA: 5J645, 646 Manila-Puerto Princesa-Manila 349, 350 Manila-Kalibo-Manila 657, 658 Manila-Tacloban-Manila 903, 904 Manila-Caticlan-Manila 457, 458, 459, 460 Manila-Iloilo-Manila 479, 480, 481, 482 Manila-Bacolod-Manila 579, 582, 576, 575, 569, 570 Manila-Cebu-Manila 657, 658 Manila-Tacloban-Manila 971, 970, 973, 974, 969, 972 Manila-Davao-Manila The Philippine Airlines has also sent an advisory on the rescheduling of following international flights, which were originally set to land in NAIA before dawn on Sunday: PR105 - San Francisco-Manila PR103 - Los Angeles-Manila PR117 - Vancouver-Manila Zest Air Philippines, meanwhile, has also cancelled nine of its flights. According to a report by Teresa Andrada aired over GMA News' "24 Oras," over 50 domestic and international flights have been cancelled so far.Despite the flight cancellations, Cusi assured that the equipment breakdown will only affect night time operations, and would only delay evening and early morning flights.Several flights scheduled for landing in NAIA on Saturday night have also been diverted to the airport in Subic, he added.Cusi likewise said that airport technicians are rushing to fix the problem, and the VOR is likely to be repaired by Sunday midnight.Last September, NAIA’s radar system likewise broke down, which caused around 50 flights to be cancelled, and hundreds of passengers stranded for almost three hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jollygoodfellow Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 Love the reporting,(Conked out)sounds Aussie to me,lol :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 Love the reporting,(Conked out)sounds Aussie to me,lol :) I guess this means another downgrade for the Philippines aviation. Oh and member Bruce is on one of those flights and was supposed to catch another one of them to Samar. Guess his medical mission will be shot unless he wishes to row row row his boat. :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markham Posted July 28, 2010 Posted July 28, 2010 (edited) It's not only the VOR that has "conked-out" but also the airport's Instrument Landing System. Without it, aircraft are unable to land if the visibility is poor which is a more likely occurrence in the rainy season.At least twice in the last four weeks, Manila airport has been closed from early morning due to poor visibility and when that happens, aircraft are diverted to Clark and instructed to await the re-opening of NAIA.When I returned to the Philippines on July 3, following a short holiday in Wales, the KLM flight I took was scheduled to land at NAIA at 8.30am after a 12.25 hour flight from Amsterdam, instead we were diverted to Clark where we landed at 8.40am and sat for the next four-plus hours on a section of disused taxiway. Now, I should explain that KLM has recently changed its free baggage allowance and I was entitled to (and took full advantage of) three checked bags of up to 23kgs each. Because PAL is less accommodating, I bought Mae a roundtrip ticket from Cebu to Manila where she would meet me and I'd be able to take advantage of her baggage allowance (30kgs) and I'd calculated the cost of her roundtrip ticket being less than the excess-baggage charges. Needless to say, Mae's flight from Cebu was also diverted to Clark and had arrived there at 7.30am. Also dotted around the airfield were a couple of planes with Cathay Pacific's livery as well as flights by Continental, China Airways, Gulf Airways and Etihad.When Manila finally reopened at around 12.30pm, it took inbound international flights from Clark in the order in which they had arrived there - and KLM was last. The airport did not accept any domestic flights that had been diverted to Clark until all the international flights had arrived. We actually took-off from Clark at around 1.15pm arriving in Manila at 1.25pm. Needless to say, there was chaos in the International Arrivals terminal with lines for immigration stretching right back to the gates.Mae and I were originally booked on the 1pm PAL flight to Cebu but Mae was still in Clark. That flight was cancelled and everyone re-booked on the 3pm flight which is one of the three daily 747 flights. Even though that flight was delayed until 5.45pm and Mae did land in Manila at 2.40, PAL refused to allow her take that flight citing that 20 minutes is insufficient transfer time! She was re-booked on PAL's 5.30pm flight whose departure was delayed until 00.30. My flight - the 3pm one - actually departed Manila at 6.15pm.In retrospect, Mae's journey was a complete waste of her time and my money as I had to pay for not only her ticket but a small fortune in excess baggage charges. All thanks to NAIA mis-management.I did speculate whether the non-functioning VOR and ILS, along with the dickey radar, were part of a devious plot by the Government to move all international flights from Manila to Clark as was widely reported in the Press here back in May. But if you've ever been to Clark, you'll know that with only two stands with jetways - neither of which are designed for wide-bodied jets - that this ain't gonna happen, unless some serious investment in infrastructure is forthcoming.Whilst we were sitting on the ground at Clark, the captain did come back and talk to us. Apparently there have been serious problems at Manila for quite a while to the extent that KLM is reportedly currently considering moving its operations to Cebu which, being a dual-use airport (military and civilian) has to have fully-functioning equipment. It is of some importance that the inbound flight from Manila arrives on time in Amsterdam as the same aircraft departs 90 minutes later on an evening flight to New York.Mark Edited July 28, 2010 by Markham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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