New air traffic mgm’t system to be installed Monday

Photo from Thales website

Passengers may expect flight disruptions on Monday as the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) is set to integrate a new communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system to improve air traffic operations and flight movements for both airlines and passengers.

The installation of the $1.5-million CNS/ATM system will start at 4 a.m. on Sept. 30 and last for about an hour, Caap said on Wednesday. In relation to this, a notice to airmen will be issued on Sept. 28 to inform airlines about the upgrade.

Thales, Caap’s technology solution provider, said that only “minimal disturbance” in flight operations was expected during the installation and software updates. But Caap said it would take precautionary steps to ensure the safety of flights and passengers, including implementing longer waiting periods between departing flights.

The system upgrade came over a year after a power outage hit the air navigation facilities of Caap on Jan. 1 last year, shutting down the country’s airspace and affecting hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers. Over the next days, airlines were forced to operate recovery flights to normalize their operations. — TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD