Will the 40 “events per hour” landing and takeoff volume at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the country’s premier airport, improve once the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’s P10.8-billion new communications navigation surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) project becomes fully operational by the end of 2018?
While the answer to this hangs, aviation officials say the new CNS/ATM should enable airlines to meet departure and arrival schedules, and provide a safer, more efficient air-traffic flow.
But is it the magic bullet that will solve—at last— the festering problems of air-traffic congestion at the Naia?
Ferdinand A. Tienzo, division chief of Enroute Control, who also heads the Air Traffic Control & Airspace Management Department, Air Traffic Services, provided an insight on the current situation besetting the Naia in an interview with the BUSINESSMIRROR.
Tienzo said the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) had mandated that aircraft separation in the Philippines should be 5 nautical miles at any given time and event.
“Since the Naia has essentially one international runway, which is 06-24, the accepted separation between airplanes is 5 miles, even those on final approach to landing,” he informed.
Tienzo noted that there is another shorter runway, 13-31, which can accommodate smaller airplanes.
With 8 miles separation on final approach, he said, the tower can “insert” an airplane on the runway to make an immediate takeoff.
Tienzo pointed out that highly developed countries have two parallel runways, one runway dedicated to takeoffs and the other runway exclusive for landings.
Air controllers at the tower and approach used to be located in separate buildings in Manila. With the new CNS/ATM in place, they are now housed in the same room at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (PATMC) “for efficiency and safety.”
Today, controllers of both sectors also share space with the Area Control Center, which directs airplanes within a 200-nautical-mile radius from the Naia. These airplanes come from all points of the compass to enter the country’s exclusive airspace, called the Philippine Flight Information Region (FIR).
This arrangement makes for efficient “transfer” of control of airplanes from neighboring countries to the Philippines.
Shortly before entering the Philippines’s airspace, area controllers from other countries instruct pilots to switch radio frequency to be able to talk to the Philippine side, which, in turn, instructs the pilot what altitude and direction to take.
Pilots understand the sequence they have to undergo on the way to their destinations in the Philippines. It could either be the Naia or any of the other airports like Laoag, Clark, Subic and Cebu, and the rest of the airports in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The sequence is from area control to approach to tower. As the pilots get nearer to their destination, they slowly descend, while avoiding other airplanes leaving the Philippine airspace.
For aircraft leaving the Naia, the sequence for pilots talking to controllers is reversed, from the tower to approach to area control.
Once the arriving pilot sees the runway, usually within 10 miles from the airport, he is directed to change frequency again to talk to the Manila tower for landing clearance.
Area control in Clark, Subic, Cebu, Davao, Kalibo and Zamboanga are located in the provinces before. Today they are all housed inside the P48-million PATMC.
Previously, area control in Manila, Cebu and Laoag could only “see” on radar airplanes within 200 nautical miles of their respective radar coverage. Today, air controllers could see the outline of the entire Philippines, Tienzo said.
Cecilio M. Ortiz, CNS/ATM project director, provided the BusinessMirror with a background of the satellite-based system.
He said the Manila FIR has an area of 809,967 square nautical miles. “The Philippine FIR is at the crossroad of Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Central West Pacific Regions.”
Ortiz added that the Asia-Pacific region has the world’s fastest-growing international and domestic air passengers.
He said the new CNS/ATM “is based on the sophisticated four-dimensional trajectory calculation of the aircraft and has the capability for leading-edge Multi-Sensor Tracking System that processes information from different types of sensors—such as Primary Radars, Secondary Radars, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract—aside from various computer-aided safety measures.”
Ortiz said today, Philippine air controllers have a view of the entire Philippine area of responsibility and could see in real time all airplanes in the air, “even those flying on visual.”
This has been made possible because modern aircraft are equipped with a transponder, a device that, when activated by the pilot, will show their identification, altitude, heading and other vital information.
Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal said once the P311-million rapid-exit taxiway is in place by end of the year, there is a possibility that the runway events per hour could be increased. “There will be some improvements, but as to how many [event per hour] we can’t say,” he said.
“It will be constructed in a way that airplanes are able to exit the runway at a faster speed because of the slight deviation of the taxiway to the runway, unlike the 90-degree turn required for old-style taxiways,” Monreal said.
As to criticisms that the new CNS/ATM would be obsolete in a few years because the next generation (NexGen) system would be mandated by the Icao, Ortiz said: “The manufacturer of the CNS/ATM has ensured [us] of available equipment upgrade for the next 15 years.”
Ortiz clarified that, like any modern equipment, the CNS/ATM could be upgraded to meet the demands of the coming years.
He added that the Advanced Air Traffic Management system will enable flexible air route selection in response to possible changes in weather, traffic and airspace conditions that would result in enhanced air-traffic safety, reduction of delays and improved airport/airspace efficiency.
On the other hand, the efficient and reliable data link communication systems will overcome the shortcomings of existing voice communication systems.
“This will result in the reduction of air-traffic controller/pilot workloads and less human error.”
Image credits: CNN Philippines
