Airlines may soon pay for weather info

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) plans to charge airlines for weather information from its Weather Aviation Forecasting System (WAFS) that helps airlines in their day-to-day flight operations.

At present, the information generated by WAFS is free and airlines can access it from the Web for free.

Edna Juanillo, supervising weather specialist of Pagasa, however, said that the weather bureau has no plans of charging media outlets and shipping companies.

She explained that in other countries, weather bureaus charge airline companies for weather news. "We are looking at a certain amount to recover the costs (of purchasing the Doppler radars). We need funds for the maintenance of the radars," said Juanillo during yesterday’s Fernandina Media Forum held at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

"As of now, we are only servicing domestic flights. We are giving them weather forecasts (in areas where the plane will pass through)," she added.

The government would soon install the two Doppler Radar systems in Subic and in Tagaytay. These will be used to forecast more accurately and earlier the weather condition all over the country. It will also cover a wider area, including international waters.

Juanillo said Doppler Radars could detect rain clouds called Cumulus Clouds, and the estimated volume of rain that would fall.

Each radar costs about P100 million but the government has to spend more for the structure. – Sandy Araneta