Don’t blame — just solve

"When something go wrong, first we solve problem then make sure problem not happen again. Not interested in blame, only solve problem.”

To this day, 30 plus years later, I still remember those wise words from my Japanese mentor who trained me to focus on getting things done rather than be caught up in office politics and the blame game so common in many western as well as Philippine companies. Yesterday morning, I was once again reminded “Not Blame – Just solve problem” when I received an early morning missed call from my sister who was flying in from Korea. I assumed she was already at home but soon discovered that their early morning flight which left Korea at around 1 am had been diverted to Clark International Airport instead of NAIA.

Through a 4-hour exchange of information between my sister Marissa, the DOTR, Clark International Airport and an executive of Cebu Pacific, I got three versions on the flight diversion. The first version, as told to passengers was that the NAIA runways was closed for repairs/that the plane was low on fuel and therefore needed to divert to Clark,  and the last that the plane had mechanical problems requiring servicing at Clark. After talking to four different sources and piecing their stories, I arrived at the conclusion that the NAIA has in fact been undergoing repairs on its runways which is done between midnight and light of day.

All airlines particularly Cebu Pacific and PAL are aware of this and have long been instructed to adjust their arrival schedules to avoid being diverted to Clark or Cebu. This arrangement works for short-term repairs but when repairs go into months, it becomes cumbersome on flight schedules especially if the port of origin is stringent on departure schedules, if they are as busy as Incheon Airport and if flying conditions are so great that tail winds gives you an unexpected push up on your travel time. What happened was that flight 5J 187 arrived before the runway was cleared and was therefore diverted to Clark.

Upon landing at Clark, passengers had to stay inside the plane because Clark International Airport reportedly did not have the needed CIQ or Customs-Immigration-Quarantine officers to service the unscheduled arrival. The aircraft was also not stocked to serve hot meals for hungry and grumpy Korean and Filipino passengers. Adding to the problem was the absence of Korean speaking FAs or Flight Attendants, which is generally the practice for international flights serving specific destinations/nationalities. Clark or CIAC had to find interpreters. Only after two hours were the passengers given two packs of crackers and one bottle of water each. After refueling, the passengers belatedly found out that the plane could not take off because “The Safety Engineer” of Cebu Pacific responsible for clearing the aircraft for take off at Clark was on his day-off! 

After half an hour, I learned that Cebu Pacific was going to fly in a Safety Engineer from Cebu Mactan International airport. In fairness, the engineer arrived and Clark Airport security breezed the guy through due to the “emergency” nature of the diversion and serious delay. After doing a visual check, the plane was cleared and the passengers landed at NAIA at 12:54 p.m. about six hours later than scheduled. And just like Murphy’s Law dictates; If something will go wrong – everything will. The passengers were reportedly given Jolibee upon landing: Lalo kaming nagalit kasi walang gravy and chick joy 1 pc with catsup!

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“All’s well that ends well” but what the passengers of 5J 187 is nothing new. When the Xiamen Air plane crash landed on NAIA, several flights were also diverted to Clark International Airport and airport sources informed me that the passengers were also stuck in their planes because there was no skeleton force to do the CIQ or Customs-Immigration-Quarantine chores. Instead of doing a “bash and blame” of authorities and operators every time the problem occurs, perhaps it is high time that the MIAA, Clark Airport Management and airlines executives put up a kitty fund of some sort to fund a 24-hour skeleton crew of CIQ at the Clark & Cebu airport just in case diversions occur. If there is no CIQ on standby, does this also mean that we don’t have emergency services on the ground in case of an emergency landing etc.? Airlines must also maintain a round the clock team of engineers or experts at airports they frequent or are used as emergency alternatives. If Philippine airports are to get international accreditation then we all need to help to make sure that the money is there, the ground crew is there, and there is an emergency system that will alert all needed personnel such as CIQ and safety engineers whenever flights are diverted. Ironically, we in media find out faster than the people in-charge.

Another suggestion aside from mandatory 24-hour CIQs is to open up terminals to passengers and if they wish to travel by land then allow them to do so. Government officials need to understand that many of our guests, tourists and business travellers are here on a limited time schedule. A six to eight hour delay is equal to a lot of time and money wasted. From what I heard and read yesterday, one thing is clear; Clark International Airport must be given more funds, more personnel if they are expected to catch problems unexpectedly such as flight diversions. This sort of problem should not happen ever again. If it does then we will have to do more than just blame someone.

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