Philippines to shut down airspace for six hours on May 17 to replace UPS
MANILA, Philippines — The Manila International Airport Authority announced Tuesday that the country’s airspace will be shut down for six hours on May 17 to allow for the replacement of an uninterruptible power supply unit of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ air traffic management system.
The closure of the Philippine airspace will be from 12 midnight to 6 a.m., which are considered to be “lean” hours for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, MIAA Senior Assistant General Manager Bryan Co told a news conference.
Co said they have been advised by the CAAP that the replacement of the UPS may take shorter than expected.
“These are all proactive efforts to, of course, make sure that the CNS/ATM (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management) is reliable as an offshoot of what happened this year,” Co said.
Co was referring to the New Year’s Day mishap when the Philippine airspace was shut down after the CNS/ATM conked out because of a circuit breaker that shorted after the air traffic management system’s UPS failed, affecting some 60,000 passengers and disrupting at least 300 flights.
But Co assured that this upcoming airspace shutdown would not be as catastrophic as the previous one.
“That’s why they chose that window of time to do the repairs and upgrades because we know that’s the least disruption to our airport operations,” he said.
He added that CAAP, airport authorities across the country and airlines will also be meeting Wednesday morning to discuss plans for the shutdown.
The MIAA is asking airlines to step up in communicating the shutdown to passengers who will be affected so that they can adjust their plans.
But Co said that in the worst case, they are preparing meals and water for up to 25% of passengers who may not get an advisory about the shutdown.
The planned shutdown comes after power at NAIA went out on the last day of the long Labor Day weekend due to a faulty circuit breaker.
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