Preventing future no-flys

The New Year’s Day no-fly situation was an international embarrassment for us. How do we make sure it doesn’t happen again?

It seems a faulty circuit breaker and a malfunctioning UPS system are just the outcome of something really wrong with the way the government manages its agencies.

Apparently, the warranty for the air traffic control system expired just before the new administration took over. That means it is no longer entitled to the usual periodic maintenance checks.

I understand the original manufacturer was willing to do the maintenance, but for a fee.

The other condition the manufacturer of the air traffic control system is asking for is complete payment for the system before they sign a maintenance contract. Apparently, years after the original contract was signed, CAAP has not completed payment.

That’s not good. Duterte and Tugade inaugurated a very critical system that had not been paid for, but which we have been using. I doubt we didn’t have the money to pay. Duterte found money to pay Pharmally for a questionable supply contract.

Besides, CAAP earns from its various charges to airlines – from earnings in running airports and should be earning from airline over flights that can now be documented with the air traffic control system in place. CAAP runs most of the airports other than NAIA, Mactan, Clark, and Caticlan.

In 2020, CAAP remitted P6 billion to the national Treasury, P3 billion in  regular dividend and P3 billion as contribution to the Bayanihan fund. Yet, because of the pandemic, CAAP had a net loss of P2.6 billion that year.

For 2021 and 2022, CAAP received a total subsidy of P2.4 billion.

It is also difficult to totally blame CAAP officials for the New Year’s Day fiasco. In their report to the House committee investigating the mishap, CAAP pointed out that as early as 2021, they proposed to develop a switchable contingency for the air traffic control system.

They were thinking of a system that could be operated as a main/standby facility equipped with the complementing features and capabilities.

“Having a CNS/ATM (Phase 2) Independent Backup Project installed in another location will address the need of having a full back-up as a contingency system…

“As soon as the new management assumed position, the matter of constructing a new CNS/ATM facility was presented and proposed as early as Aug. 31, 2022…”

The estimated cost of the project is P13 billion. Not much more than the Pharmally contract.

As early as 2019, CAAP had proposed a project to ensure system redundancy for data storage. The P139 million project will update four to five subsystems of the CNS/ATM to ensure all data is backed-up and will not be lost through data corruption. It will also ensure sufficient storage for aeronautical messages and international compatibility of flight plans without need of human intervention.

Again, as is expected in government operations, the time from proposal by the technical staff to procurement, award, and completion take years. Modernizing our air traffic control system was first proposed in the 1990s. It got NEDA approval in November 2000.

JICA dispatched a study team to conduct the detailed design study for the new CNS/ATM System and prepare the tender of documents for project execution on June 30, 2002.

The procurement of consulting services started on Sept. 20, 2005, but the contract was awarded only on  Feb. 13, 2008.

Contract package 1 was awarded to the Sumitomo-Thales Australia joint venture, with the contract signed on Nov. 17, 2010. Contract package 2 was awarded and contract signed on April 27, 2011.

Construction started on Dec. 17, 2010, but was suspended in May 2011 by COA, which questioned the participation of Thales, which was also the former Thomson-CSF that abandoned the Global Maritime Distress Safety System Project of DOTC in 2000. The advance payment of package 1 was disallowed.

The project was derailed. COA lifted its disallowance after appeals on May 23, 2013. Exchange of Notes between our Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Japan was done and the project was resumed in August 2013.

The project was completed and turned over in October 2017 and CAAP started commissioning the system and assumed its operations.

The Philippine Air Traffic Management Center was inaugurated by Duterte in January 2018. In November 2018, Manila Approach, Clark Approach, and Manila Area Control Center transferred their operations to the new Philippine Air Traffic Management Center located at the CAAP compound in Pasay City.

The new system increased the capacity of air traffic volume in the Philippine airspace. Ten radars were added, bringing the total to 13 radars all over the country.

But why did it take so long to get this modernization project going? And after it was installed, why have requests for upgrades made by the technical staff been apparently ignored by higher-ups during the Duterte watch?

The institutional problem behind the New Year’s Day fiasco is obvious. Government, because of its bureaucratic rules and political intrusion, can’t manage something as technical and critical as air traffic control.

There are many who are against privatizing this function, supposedly because of national security concerns. But we all saw how national security was put at risk by the institutional failures of the government that led to that New Year’s Day fiasco.

There are other reasons to go private. Air travel demand is outpacing the ability of the government system to expand capacity. We are also losing trained air traffic controllers, and the ones we have are overworked and underpaid. We could be facing a disaster in the making due to physical fatigue and low morale.

It is a question of pay and benefits. Government pay is dismal to begin with and our air traffic controllers have a skill that has a good international price tag. Our controllers are pirated by foreign entities and they owe it to their families to take a job that earns many times more than what CAAP can pay them.

Hopefully, our legislators will understand the real cause of that no-fly day and think of real solutions so we don’t internationally embarrass ourselves again with such ineptitude that inconvenienced 78,000 passengers in 637 flights.

Junior apologized as he should. But never again, please!

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