CAAP, airline executives seek to regain flight safety status

MANILA, Philippines - Newly appointed Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director general Alfonso Cusi left yesterday for Brussels, Belgium along with his top flight safety advisers and executives from local airlines in a bid to regain the country’s Category 1 flight safety status.

Cusi, who assumed the CAAP’s top post yesterday, said it would be the country’s loss if the Philippines is blacklisted by the European Union (EU) for failing to attend an audit that will be conducted from March 15 to 19.

“If we are blacklisted, that means we are disconnecting ourselves from air routes in EU member countries,” he told journalists prior to his departure.

Cusi was briefed yesterday by Eduardo Batac, director of the CAAP’s Flight Standard and Inspectorate Service, prior to meeting with Daniel Calleja, the EU’s director general for transportation and energy.

Cusi is scheduled to brief Calleja on what the CAAP has achieved to address the air safety concern – the lack of highly trained technical personnel – aired by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit team in October 2009.

Batac said that although the Philippines has no direct route to Europe at the moment, there are many European nationals who come to the Philippines as tourists or businessmen who avail of the country’s air transport system and the EU is concerned about their safety.

According to Batac, one of the things brought up by the US Federal Aviation Administration, the ICAO and the EU’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program is the “inability of the Philippines to recruit and retain qualified technical personnel.”

 “In the past some highly trained technical personnel were recruited but left for greener pastures,” he said.

Batac said if the EU blacklists the Philippines, Philippine international carriers may be refused landing rights in EU countries and the tourism industry, as well as businesses related to air travel and tourism, shall suffer a devastating fallout.

Aside from Batac, Cusi will be accompanied by Efren Rocamora, CAAP commercial air transport chief; Carl de Guzman of the airworthiness department; Batac’s technical assistant, Nestor Pasano; and Cusi’s executive assistant, Teresa Mendoza.

Philippine Airlines is sending senior vice president Beda Badiola, vice president for operations Johnny Andrews, and flight safety head John Steinberg.

Cebu Pacific has sent vice president for flight operations Victor Custodio and chief operations adviser Mark Breen.       – Rudy Santos