Spanish firm insists planes for Air Force safe, excellent

MANILA, Philippines - The Spanish firm that was declared the lone eligible bidder for the supply of three Air Force aircraft on Friday said that its planes are compliant with the standards set by the Philippine government.

Airbus Military said its C-295 plane has “an exceptional safety record” and is “the market leader in its segment.”

"The aircraft is proven in real service and fully meets the standards required by the Department of National Defense of the Philippines,” the company said in a statement.

Airbus Military was reacting to reports stating that the aircraft model being offered to the Philippines figured in a 2008 crash that left 20 people dead in Poland.

Foreign news reports published in 2012 also claimed that the Czech military had returned “faulty” C-295 planes to the company.

Airbus Military clarified that the crash in Poland was caused by a human error and had nothing to do with the quality of the aircraft.

“While a C-295 aircraft of the Polish Air Force was unfortunately involved in an accident in January 2008, a full and thorough investigation was undertaken by the Polish government which found no fault with the aircraft,” the company said.

The Polish Air Force, Airbus Military said, even ordered five more C-295 planes after the accident.

“The Polish Air Force has since reaffirmed its confidence in the aircraft and ordered an additional batch of five C-295s in July 2012. Poland has since become the largest operator of C-295s world-wide with 16 aircraft,” Airbus Military said.

Responding to the issue involving the Czech planes, Airbus Military said four more C-295s have been delivered to the country last year “to full satisfaction.”

“The Czech Republic now has joined Spain, Poland and Finland in using the C-295 for peace-keeping missions,” the Spanish company said.

The planes would also be deployed to the Sinai Peninsula to provide logistical support to the multinational force and observers until the end of the year.

“While we have undertaken additional upgrades on aircraft post-delivery, as is not unusual with military aircraft, it is incorrect to say that the aircraft were returned to us due to quality issues or failure of tests,” Airbus Military said.

The company claimed that the C-295 is the ideal aircraft for defense and civic missions like humanitarian actions, homeland security, and environmental surveillance.

Airbus Military offered to supply the three medium-lift aircraft for about P5.289 billion,  lower than the P5.3-billion approved budget for the project.

The offer will soon be subjected to the post-qualification phase, which allows the Air Force to determine whether the planes are responsive to its needs.

Airbus Military will be declared the winning bidder if it satisfies all the post-qualification requirements. – Alexis Romero