Senate to conduct investigation on NAIA air traffic control system issue

The senate will conduct an inquiry on the recent problem of the country’s air traffic control system that disrupted at least hundreds of domestic and international flights on New Year’s Day affecting at least 56, 000 passengers.

In a statement, Senator Grace Poe said that “Give them time to restore normal flight operations. After which, we will conduct an inquiry and direct them to submit a full report of what caused the supposed glitch and power outage,”

Last Sunday, the beginning of New year, hundreds of flights were reportedly either delayed, cancelled, or diverted to other airports, affecting over 56,000 passengers who were scheduled to arrive at or depart from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other airports across the country.

Sen. Poe revealed that power distributor Meralco reported a steady supply of power from their end. “The failure then points to CAAP and their navigation equipment,” she said.

She then called for transparency and accountability from CAAP as thousands of people depend on their capability.

 “This is a national security concern. Thousands of lives depend on the efficiency and competence of CAAP. There needs to be transparency and accountability from CAAP, ” Poe added.

Moreover, the chair of the senate’s committee on public service said “We will, therefore, conduct a hearing as part of the Senate’s oversight function, to determine who is liable, and what we need to do to avoid the malfunction from happening again.” 

Meanwhile, Capt. Manuel Tamayo, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General said that it was the power supply of the Air Traffic Management Center Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management that had failed and caused damage to key components.