Aviation sector eager to fly

SEATTLE – As I listened to the presentations of a team of Boeing executives on the state of the aviation industry, it confirmed the impression we are being seriously left behind. The blame can be laid squarely on the past administrations. Our local aviation sector has done miraculously well, given the circumstances.

Indeed, the fighting spirit of the local airlines, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, is nothing short of heroic. Both airlines have heavily invested in modernizing their fleet.

They have the most appropriate models of aircraft to meet the needs of their market. They have made sure they are able to meet the challenge of competitors, particularly in the ASEAN regional markets. And they are doing all these despite the burden of government.

Looking at the number of new Boeing commercial aircraft for various airlines in the very large Boeing facility in Everett, one realizes that our domestic carriers cannot afford to do nothing. Certainly, waiting for government to make the investment climate conducive for an airline company is not an option. Competition is fierce.

It would have been very easy for our airlines to be discouraged by government’s neglect of the infrastructure needed for a modern aviation industry. Additionally, PAL and CebuPac have been effectively penalized by the past officials of DOTC for investing in new aircraft.

The first thing Mar Roxas did as DOTC Secretary back in 2011 was to ask the carriers to curtail their flights to NAIA. This was Mar’s solution to the congestion that was starting to show over the skies at NAIA. But what will the airlines do with all their new aircraft?

A good interim solution was to ban general aviation aircraft and move them to Sangley or Clark. This is something Sec. Art Tugade did successfully, even if it still was a half measure, not a total ban. Mar couldn’t find it in his heart to offend the elite who travel by private plane.

I remember writing that Mar was effectively penalizing domestic airlines for believing the government spiel encouraging the private sector to invest in our growing economy. Ordering an aircraft isn’t like ordering siopao in a panciteria. These are done way in advance and cancellations involve substantial penalties.

Mar could have been more creative in his response. He imposed an inappropriate quick fix solution that was also inadequate, as we all have seen during the six long years of the Aquino presidency. It is only now that the Duterte administration is doing what Mar and Jun Abaya should have done five years ago.

It was significant that DOTr Usec. for aviation Bobby Lim and CAAP deputy director general Capt. Manuel Antonio Tamayo joined us in the delivery flight of PAL’s newest Boeing 777-300 ER. The briefings at Boeing and the factory tour should have given them a good idea of how much catching up they need to do for the aviation sector.

It is encouraging that they seem to be a lot more enthusiastic than the Aquino officials in producing results in areas that have long been neglected. They know the deficiencies in infrastructure and regulatory set-up of government. And best of all, they seem to need little prodding to make sure there will be palpable improvements soon.

For starters, NAIA is now ready to have a fully functioning ILS or Instrument Landing System. They have fixed the defective ILS they inherited from the Aquino watch. I can’t believe Aquino officials allowed the ILS to be non operational for a couple of years. It is a basic safety facility a civilised airport must have.

According to Capt. Tamayo, they are just calibrating the repaired system. It would have been operational last week, but they encountered radio interference and it is taking time to pinpoint where the interference is coming from.

They have also acted on the ILS of Mactan airport which has remained idle for two years even if there was nothing wrong with it. The past CAAP just failed to write the rules on its use.

Capt. Tamayo also said he expects the night landing certification of Caticlan airport to be released within the next few weeks. That will allow airlines to schedule flights more efficiently beyond the current sunset limitation. It will also help alleviate congestion issues at NAIA.

Usec. Lim told me the scheduled privatization of airport management is on track. This includes not just some airports outside of Metro Manila, but also NAIA as well. Government will stick to regulation and infrastructure development, as it should.

Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised that even CAAP is amenable to just stick to regulation of the industry and give up management of airports in the provinces. As Capt. Tamayo puts it, they have their hands full in bringing up the quality of aviation regulation. In this sense, managing an airport is a distraction.

But any change requires congressional approval. The CAAP Charter, which was passed in a rush to respond to the country’s downgrading to Category 2 status under the Arroyo watch, needs to be revised. Other than sticking to just regulation, there are other lessons learned from our downgrading that must be incorporated in the law.

Usec. Lim said they are looking at the possibility of issuing an executive order to hasten the process of transition even while waiting for Congress to act. The other thing both Lim and Tamayo agree with is the concept of an independent National Transportation Safety Board. It will remove a potential conflict of interest for CAAP because an accident could well be an offshoot of regulatory failure.

Both Lim and Tamayo are also in favor of fast tracking the development of Clark as an alternate airport for Metro Manila. Again, Clark was all but neglected by the Aquino administration.

It took over a year for Mar to constitute a board of directors for the Clark International Airport Authority, making it impossible to carry out its development plans. Then Clark Airport president Chichos Luciano presented to me his plans for expansion. But nothing much happened, even after a cousin of P-Noy took over the job of Chichos at Clark.

The airlines have been supportive of the plans of DOTr Secretary Art Tugade to develop Clark as a means of alleviating NAIA congestion. Both PAL and CebuPac are ready to transfer some flights to Clark.

Moving to Clark may be more viable now. Given the road traffic problem of getting to NAIA, residents of Quezon City and other northern Metro Manila cities may find it more convenient to use Clark. It sometimes takes me more than three hours to reach NAIA from my QC home. Clark via NLEX may be faster.

PAL president Jimmy Bautista has another idea to make it more convenient for passengers at NAIA. He wants to move some of his flights to Terminal 1. He is proposing to build a pedestrian bridge connecting Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 equipped with a walkator for the less than one kilometer distance. This would be heaven sent for passengers who must now contend with road traffic when moving from one terminal to another.

The growth of PAL’s passenger market has been spectacular recently so that even if they have sole use of Terminal 2, it is no longer enough. Having some of their flights in Terminal 3 is so inconvenient for passengers.

Indeed, my wife and my son once almost missed their flight to Dumaguete because they went to Terminal 2 and the traffic to get to Terminal 3 is more than horrible. PAL already uses Terminal 1 for arriving passengers from North America.

Growth is the name of the game in local aviation these days and government must facilitate this growth, not impede it as in the past. The airlines are investing heavily on aircraft to meet our growing market of air travellers.

The Boeing 777-300ER being delivered now at Boeing’s Everett facility has a list price of $250 million. This is the 7th 777 plane of PAL and an 8th one is due by December, just in time for the Christmas rush. PAL has also bought six Airbus A350s so that its total fleet count will be 80 by the end of next year.

I imagine Cebu Pacific is just as bullish. The last time I had a conversation with Lance Gokongwei during the ANC anniversary cocktails, he was talking of expanding in the provincial areas by creating hubs – meaning people from the VisMin areas need not go to Metro Manila to go to other cities there.

Government must match the enthusiasm of the private sector airlines to meet increasing passenger volume. So far, I am confident the DOTr and CAAP are on the ball. CAB may be another story for another day.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco