Airport, airline execs tackle flight delays

THE MANILA International Airport Authority (Miaa), local airline executives and other aviation officials got together last week to wrestle with a bane of air passengers, among other things, flight delays. The heavy traffic to and from the terminals is another matter under another authority altogether.

Miaa General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, in a statement, said the airline companies agreed to hold pocket meetings with Naia (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) officials to improve flight scheduling and air traffic management.

In August, the Miaa activated secondary runway 13/31 to ease air traffic and was finishing construction of a P452-million 640-meter taxiway extension to decongest aircraft ground traffic. The Naia has two intersecting runways—primary runway 06/24 and secondary runway 13/31.

The Miaa met on Thursday with officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and Civil Aeronautics Board, and executives of Philippine Airlines, PAL Express, Cebu Pacific, Cebu Pacific-Tiger Airways and AirAsia Zest to resolve the issue of flight delays, which has earned the ire of passengers.

Honrado said that while it was acknowledged during the meeting that flight delays for various reasons were often unavoidable, the airlines agreed to make adjustments to better meet their flight schedules.

“Small group exploratory meetings will be convened to improve on the scheduling of flights as well as the management of air traffic flow,” Honrado said.

With the airline executives assuring their cooperation and assistance, Honrado said they would help Miaa efforts at resolving the air traffic congestion to which flight delays were usually attributed. Jeannette I. Andrade