THE Philippine Airlines announced on Friday it has registered a marked improvement in its On Time Performance beginning last month after carrying out operational initiatives in support of the government’s measures to ease air traffic congestion.
Among the initiatives are the implementation of a revised flight schedule, which started on Sept. 1 resulted in an average of 280 flights daily from an average of 295 daily flights; Adherence to flight departure slot schedules as mandated by aviation authorities, and the enhancement of passenger-handling and ground-handling performance.
PAL posted an 80.2 percent OTP for the 2nd week of September, a marked increase from the same period last year (September 2015) which was pegged at 73.8 percent. PAL’s’ average OTP from January to August 2016 was 64.4 percent.
“Our aim is to meet flight timings through these sustained efforts which we carry out internally and as part of our concerted effort with fellow aviation industry stakeholders. However, force majeure situations are factors which will periodically lead to congestion as these are beyond the airline’s control,” said PAL president and COO Jaime J. Bautista.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is strictly implementing the rule allowing a maximum of 40 flight movements per hour, which is the required combined number of take-offs and landings hourly by air carriers operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
