The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), in a statement issued Tuesday, Jan. 2, said the three-year old P11-billion Air Traffic Management (ATM) system plus the backup, which both failed on New Year's Day 2023, stranding hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers, is "already behind when it was first used in 2019."
"The CAAP’s Aerodrome and Air Navigation Safety Oversight Office (AANSOO) will be tasked to investigate the incident," according to the agency.
The CAAP has also made recommendations to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on improving the country’s air traffic management system.
The incident that resulted in the loss of power in the system was due to a problem in the system’s electrical network, with its uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which is to be used as backup power supply, also failing, the CAAP conceded.
"The main cause of the power supply problem is still being determined and is subject for investigation."
The agency's Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) System was a P10.8-billion project financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that was completed on October 2017.
The system was inaugurated on January 2018 and started comprehensive operations on July 2019.
The CNS/ATM system provides various computer-aided safety measures in Air Traffic Control (ATC), and enhances safety through reduction of controller/pilot workloads and human errors.
The new ATM System introduced Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) and Air Space Management (ASM) functions, which optimize the use of airport capacity and the efficient use of airspace.
Hence, it minimized delays and allowed more flexible and user-preferred air-route selection.
Previously, CAAP only used three radars which are stationed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay, in Clark, Pampanga, and in Tagaytay, Cavite to manage the Philippines’ air traffic.
With the new CNS/ATM system, the country now has 13 radars (NAIA1, Clark, Tagaytay, Aparri, Laoag, Cebu-Mt. Majic, Quezon-Palawan, Zamboanga, NAIA2, Mactan, Bacolod, Kalibo, and Davao) covering around 70 percent of Philippine air space.
With the introduction of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Contract (ADS-C) and the Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), the CNS/ATM is able to cover 100 percent of the remaining oceanic airspace.
This increases air traffic safety and capacity in the oceanic region of the Manila FIR.
Despite the failure of both the system andcis backup yesterday, CAAP "ensured that no aircraft or passengers were harmed".
The Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC), which houses the equipment to the system, resumed partial operations with limited capacity at 4:00PM and normal operations have resumed as of 5:50PM on Jan. 1, 2023.
Philippine Airlines flight 222 (4:55PM) and Cathay Pacific flight 930 (5:33PM) were the first flights to respectively land and take off at NAIA after the airport resumed normal operations.