The Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) conducted an inspection of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) facility on Monday, January 9, 2023, after the breakdown of the latter's Air Traffic Management (ATM) system.
The breakdown affected 361 flights and stranded 65,000 passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals on New Year's day.
Specifically, GCG Commissioner Gideon Mortel inspected the facilities in the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) at the CAAP compound in Pasay City.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary for Aviation Roberto Lim and CAAP Director General Manuel Antonio Tamayo accompanied the GCG Commissioner.
The on-site inspection covered the ATMC's control room, equipment room, where the equipment conked out, and the very small aperture terminal (VSAT), where a set of satellite dishes used to link communication and surveillance facilities nationwide are located.
“They are very open, very transparent," Commissioner Mortel observed after the inspection of the facility.
"We were led to the entire process, from the Control Room, we went to the Equipment Room, the VSAT, so the entire facility was shown to us,” he elaborated.
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Both DOTr and CAAP are "cooperative" in sharing the needed information about the incident that transpired on January 1, 2023, according to Commissioner Mortel.
“They are cooperative, they are willing to share to us all the information that the GCG wanted to know,” he confirmed.
“We didn’t want to have this technical glitch," CAAP Director General Tamayo stressed.
"It could happen anytime, anywhere in spite of maintenance procedure, in spite of proficiency and qualifications of our technicians,” he pointed out.
CAAP’s Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) System provides computer-aided safety measures in Air Traffic Control (ATC), and enhances safety through reduction of controller/pilot workloads and human errors.
The system undergoes regular and routine check, according to the Director General.
The Jan. 1, 2023 incident was simply "unfortunate", he maintained.