By Gabriela Baron
The Philippine airspace will be shut down for six hours on May 17, according to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).
The country’s airspace will be closed for six hours from midnight to 6:00 a.m. to replace the uninterruptible power supply of the air traffic management which failed in January.
On Jan. 1, a power outage put flights to and from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on hold.
Another power outage hit NAIA Terminal 3 twice on Labor Day, suspending anew multiple flights.
“Sa 17, mas malaki ‘yung impact, kasi it would be for several hours, tapos wala talagang activity on Philippine airspace,” MIAA Senior Assistant General Manager Brian Co said.
“Wala nang lumilipad sa Philippine airspace, let’s say a flight that’s supposed to arrive in Davao by 12:00, dapat nandoon na siya by 12:00. Dapat the last flight in Manila would be around 10:30 p.m. kasi lilipad pa yung eroplano,” Co added.
The MIAA official said rescheduling of flights are expected.
“Hindi lamang sa NAIA ipinagbabawal ang pagpasok at paglabas ng mga eroplano sa Philippine airspace, kung di sa lahat ng 42 airports na sakop ng [Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines],” he added. – gb
