DOTC to address complaints raised by airline passengers

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is moving to address the growing number of “consumer complaints” raised by local airline passengers victimized by cancelled bookings on cancelled and delayed flights.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II said that the agency would coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), as well as the country’s local airlines to address the complaints of air travel consumers.

Roxas said that he would designate senior undersecretary for operations Rafael Santos to head the technical working group that will undertake the project.

Roxas made the announcement yesterday in a press conference attended by top officials of the country’s local airlines like San Miguel Corp. president and Philippine Airlines chief operating officer Ramon Ang, Cebu Pacific president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei, and Zest Air director Arturo Alejandrino, as well as top officials of the Manila International Airport Authority, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo also gave his commitment to help the DOTC by lending expertise of their consumer affairs unit.

“We also agreed that we will not let this undertaking get lost in the bureaucracy,” Roxas said.

The airline bosses, he said, have also given their commitment to participate by designating a senior person reporting directly to them “so we can comprehensively address these consumer complaints.”

Roxas said there was a need to clarify the rights of air travel consumers.

“Whatever the rules now, in the CAB, obviously they are not adequate and acceptable. There are still a lot of complaints, gray areas and misunderstandings,” Roxas noted.

The recent brawl between media personality Ramon Tulfo and the group of actor Raymart Santiago and his actress-wife Claudine Barretto at NAIA Terminal 3 last Sunday started when the couple were berating a Cebu Pacific ground crew over missing baggage on their Boracay to Manila flight.

Meanwhile, to decongest the NAIA runway, Roxas disclosed the plan to rationalize flights by reducing domestic flights scheduled during peak and non-peak hours.

The so-called fish-run flights, Roxas said, will only be allowed at the Sangley Point airport and not at the NAIA runway.

The NAIA runway, Roxas said, will be declared a “captain’s runway” area, meaning only captains can operate a takeoff or landing. 

Currently, first officers are allowed to facilitate flight takeoff as part of their training, which Roxas said may cause more lag time on the runway.

With this measure, only the pilot-in-command shall have full control during takeoff and landing, ensuring that a flight is within the average of 100 seconds/movement, the DOTC said.

To enhance the runway’s capacity, the construction of two rapid exit taxiways worth P300 million each are being fast-tracked and are expected to be completed early next year.

Roxas said that the NAIA runway congestion was a result of the phenomenal growth in air traffic brought by the success of local budget carriers offering low airfare and stimulating domestic and international travel among Filipinos.

“We did not notice that there’s already runway traffic due to the increase in aircraft population and flight schedules in the past years,” Roxas explained in Filipino.

Statistics showed that air fleet population of commercial airlines today has doubled to 119 compared to only 62 in 2008. Since 2006, these aircraft serviced 18 million passengers and last year the volume increased to 30 million. Aircraft movements or takeoff and landing in NAIA also went up to 255,000 in 2011 compared to 171,000 in 2006.

According to Roxas, NAIA’s runways can only accommodate an average of 36 events (takeoff and landing) per hour, but actual scheduled commercial and general aviation flights, including fish runs, went to as high as 50 events per hour during daytime this summer passenger season, causing a congested runway resulting in flight delays and cancellations.

Roxas said based on discussion with executives of the local carriers, the DOTC will pursue short and long term measures to increase the capacity of NAIA’s runway and “demand management and redistribution.”

Local airlines, he said, have already aired their support to redistribute the demand or reschedule their domestic flights in NAIA to nighttime, which are non-peak hours.

This will be done by transferring domestic commercial flights to and from NAIA to other night-rated domestic airports.

Aside from Manila, airports that have night landing capabilities are Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Kalibo, Tacloban, Puerto Princesa, Zamboanga, General Santos and Laoag.

Roxas said that airlines have agreed to conduct a study to adjust their schedules in order to transfer most of their flights to night-rated airports instead of lumping them all during daytime. 

However the new scheme would not happen immediately since most airlines have already sold tickets for future flights.

As part of the long-term plan, an estimated budget of P800 million will be allotted to convert 14 provincial airports to be “night-rated” or capable of accommodating flights at nighttime. 

These airports are Tagbilaran, Legazpi, Dumaguete, Butuan, Ozamis, Cotabato, Naga, Dipolog, Roxas, Pagadian, Tuguegarao, Busuanga, Surigao and San Jose, Mindoro.  

Another measure is the lowering of fees for takeoff and landing at nighttime and increasing them at daytime. Fees for slots at 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the NAIA will be doubled while fees for slots at 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. will decrease by 25 percent, Roxas said.

MIAA General Manager Angel Honrado said the agency is already discussing with the Department of National Defense to transfer all general aviation flights to Sangley Point in Cavite City within a month. 

There are 82 general aviation flights per day in NAIA, including fish runs.

Tourism flights, such those going to Amanpulo, Batanes, or El Nido will only be allowed one cycle (1 landing and 1 takeoff) per company, within the peak period of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to save an extra 5 to 7 flights a day.

Currently, tourism flights are not limited and are allowed to take slots at NAIA runway peak hours. All these measures, Roxas said, are aimed to boost NAIA’s airports flight handling capacity from 36 to a target 45 events.