Thirty domestic flights were cancelled on Saturday after the communication system of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) encountered technical problems, an airline official said. The following Cebu Pacific Airline flights have been cancelled due to the breakdown of NAIA’s Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Radio Range (VOR) finder system, Cebu Pacific’s marketing head Candice Iyog said in a Bombo Radyo report: 5J645, 646 Manila-Puerto Princesa-Manila 349, 350 Manila-Kalibo-Manila 657, 658 Manila-Tacloban-Manila 903, 904 Manila-Caticlan-Manila 457, 458, 459, 460 Manila-Iloilo-Manila 479, 480, 481, 482 Manila-Bacolod-Manila 579, 582, 576, 575, 569, 570 Manila-Cebu-Manila 657, 658 Manila-Tacloban-Manila 971, 970, 973, 974, 969, 972 Manila-Davao-ManilaThe VOR is a radio navigation system which helps in directing aircrafts to the runway, especially at night. Michelle de Guzman, a Cebu Pacific public information officer, was also quoted in a separate radio report as saying that another facility called Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) had also reportedly bogged down, aside from the hobbled VOR.
A DME is a radio navigation technology that provides distance by measuring the time that it takes for a transmission sent from an aircraft to a ground-based transmitter to return.
Meanwhile, CAAP director general Alfonso Cusi assured that the equipment breakdown will only affect night time operations, and would only delay evening and early morning flights.
Cusi said airport technicians are rushing to fix the problem before sunset. However, he cautioned that if the equipment trouble does not get solved within the day, operations could only resume at the airport at 8 a.m. Sunday.
GMANews.TV tried to get more details on the communication system breakdown from Cusi, but he is currently meeting with NAIA officials to decide whether to cancel all flights scheduled for Saturday night.—JV
