MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Airspace will shut down from 12 midnight to 6 a.m. on May 17 for the scheduled maintenance of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ (Caap) air traffic system.
“What will happen there is for six hours, wala talagang activity sa ating airspace, but of course we are saying na pwedeng shorter, pero as far as the planning is concerned we’re planning for six hours,” Manila International Airport Authority Senior Assistant General Manager Bryan Co explained to reporters on Tuesday.
(What will happen is for 6 hours, there will be no activity in our airspace. But of course, we are saying that it can be shorter, but as far as the planning is concerned, we’re planning for 6 hours.)
“Pero it’s not just six hours, 12 to 6 sarado airspace, dapat wala nang eroplano sa Philippine airspace [during that period],” he added.
(But it’s not just six hours from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. that the airspace would be closed. There should also be no more planes in Philippine airspace during that period.)
In a separate statement dated April 28, Caap said that the corrective maintenance activity would be conducted at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) to repair the Automatic Voltage Regulator, replace the Uninterruptible Power Supply, and upgrade the Air Traffic Management System A/B power supply.
This facility houses the Communications, Navigations, Surveillance / Air Traffic Management system, which manages and supervises the air traffic activities within the Philippine Flight Information Region.
Caap said it had already coordinated with and advised several stakeholders, such as air carriers and airport operators Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. (Lipad), and GMR–Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) regarding the scheduled maintenance activity.
An earlier but shorter maintenance activity is also scheduled on May 3, Wednesday, from 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.
“Mitigating measures and flight schedule adjustments have been discussed with stakeholders to ensure the smooth conduct of the imperative maintenance activity,” said Caa
Caap then assured the public that once the maintenance activity is completed, operations at the ATMC will resume as normal and will allow Caap-ATMC to serve the flying public better and ensure continued flight safety.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding and cooperation in ensuring the safety and efficiency of our air traffic management system,” said Caap.
To recall, power outages have struck the Ninoy Aquino International Airports multiple times, the most recent of which was on Monday occurring at around 1:05 a.m. and was restored at around 8:46 a.m.
The first time was when a power outage disrupted Terminal 3 airport operations in September 2022. But the most notable was the power failure that downed the country’s entire air navigation system on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2023, which caused the cancellation and diversion of hundreds of flights for days.
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