Travels And Aviation NEWS: Aviation Authority reopens airport

1.

THE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) announced Thursday the opening of the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) runway to air traffic after it was closed for a day.

Caap closed the ZIA runway to air traffic Wednesday after a Manila-bound Airbus A320 of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) with flight number PR-124 was stuck in a mud at the end of Runway 09 while preparing to take-off.

2. AirAsia X Adds Airframe MRO at LHT Philippines
Long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X has decided to renew a supplemental airframe maintenance agreement with Lufthansa Technik Philippines in Manila, covering light C checks on its Airbus fleet. The extension suggests Lufthansa Technik Philippines’ tactics for retaining the region’s low-cost carriers as customers are working.

The new contract expands a three-year base maintenance agreement signed last year, which already provided C checks, a heavy maintenance check, cabin retrofits and painting services for nine AirAsia X Airbus A330s and two A340s.

In announcing the extension, Anaz Ahmad Tajuddin, head of engineering for the airline, says that “The teamwork and partnership we receive from Lufthansa Technik Philippines has ensured proven reliability of our aircraft thus far.”

When Aviation Week spoke with Tajuddin last October, he described his strategy for airframe maintenance as an area where he sees opportunities for cost advantages (O&M, November 2010, p. 22.) In the past, he said, AirAsia X sent C checks to Sasco in the Philippinnes, but in 2010, it sent all six C checks to LHT Philippines.

At the time, he said he was still in discussion with MROs for 2011 arrangements. “We do not keep all of our eggs in one basket,” he said. “By doing that, we keep the MROs on their toes.”

But LHT Philippines has been making moves to retain work for low-cost carriers, whose numbers are growing rapidly in SE Asia. To meet customer needs, Lufthansa Technik Philippines planned to convert one of its hangars into an LCC operations center, said Dominik Wiener-Silva, VP marketing and sales. “We have to align our business to these guys to really support them in what they are doing.”

3. Civil Aviation Authority to install Precision Approach Path Indicator in Catarman airport

CATARMAN, Northern Samar, Mar 10 (PIA) – Governor Paul Daza is elated over the assurance of Director Andrew Basallote, chief of Air Navigation Services of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) of putting up a Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) in Catarman Airport. This was learned from the Provincial Information Office.
A PAPI is a visual aid system or light arrayed alongside the runway which provides guidance for the pilot with a safe and accurate glide slope in its final approach to the runway. This will also help the pilot in approaching a runway with very poor visibility.
In a report taken from Sylma Lutao of Northern Samar Provincial Information Office, Daza stressed the importance of installing a PAPI for the safety of travelers as well as of the community, to reduce cancellations of flights in the future.
Report from Provincial Tourism Office disclosed that on its Monthly Actual Load Factor data, 38 of 624 flights to Catarman from January to December 2010 were cancelled while 149 were delayed due to lack of PAPI installed in the Half-a-Century old runway of the capital town of Northern Samar.
There are three airlines carrying passengers that fly Catarman-Manila and vice versa route: Air Philippines (Daily) , Cebu Pacific every Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Zest Air on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with Air Philippines also flying to Cebu-Catarman route and vice versa during Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The people of Northern Samar gladly welcome this new development in the Air Transportation.

4. Jinggoy wants CAAP probed for corruption
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) should be probed amid allegations of corruption within the agency, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said Tuesday.

“I think the time has come for the Senate to look into the situation at the CAAP and whether the law creating it needs further refinement or whether those mandated to implement it are just bungling their jobs," Estrada said in a statement on Tuesday.

Estrada, the son of ousted President Joseph Estrada, said there were reports that a syndicate within the CAAP and the lax implementation of the law by its officials have allowed the proliferation of fake pilot licenses.

“What is also bothering me is the possibility that some foreign nationals, especially those from the Middle East and licensed by the CAAP as pilots, would later turn out to be members of terrorist groups as what happened before," he said.

The senator cited Mohamed Atta, who reportedly took flying lessons in the Philippines in 1999 and later on took part in the September 9, 2001 World Trade Center attack in the United States.

“These allegations were largely from the previous administration, and we are now trying to correct it," Napoleon Garcia, CAAP deputy executive director and officer in charge told GMA News Online over the phone.

Garcia, who was designated OIC by the Department of Transportation and Communications, said he and the current batch of CAAP officials led by executive director Ramon Gutierrez, who is now in Europe for a conference, were appointed by Malacañang only last January.

Taking people off sensitive positions

“With these allegations, we are now trying to remove people from sensitive positions. ‘Yung may mga (Those with) complaints," he said.

He said the head of the Licensing and Certification Department had already been replaced.

“But the other complaints surrounding the disappearance of millions of pesos were allegations about the [past CAAP] administration," Garcia said.

The CAAP was created by Republic Act No. 9497 in 2008, specifically to bring the Philippines on track with international aviation safety standards and certified by the Federal Aviation Authority of the United States and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Still, the Philippine remains far from getting certified because of non-compliance with global best practices and safety regulations, Estrada said. "Almost two years after the creation of the CAAP, our situation is basically the same."

NEHA JAIN

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