The P9.8-billion state-of-the-art facility of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is now in its final phase and will be fully operational on or before December this year.
The agency is hastening the construction of the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Air Traffic Management facilities which will be turned over to CAAP by the contractor next month.
“Yes, it is already functional and will be fully operational towards the end of this year,” said Eric Apolonio, CAAP spokesperson and media communications office chief.
Aviation authorities said the CNS/ATM technology which includes a computer-based flight data processing system, will enable aircraft operators to meet their planned times of departure and arrival and adhere to their preferred flight profiles with minimum constraints and without compromising agreed levels of safety.
With this technology, which started worldwide in 2000, the billing for overflights would be done automatically by computers so that there would no longer be lapses or flights that do not get properly billed.
The system development project was first conceptualized in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization Global Air Navigation Plan.
The utilization of this system covers the Philippine airspace.
The project, which begun during the administration of then President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under the aegis of the ICAO, was supposed to be finished in 2005, then moved to 2007 and 2010 until it was finally abandoned for lack of funds.
Since then, neighboring countries have adopted the CNS/ATM but the Philippines remained one of the few countries that lack this high-tech, satellite-based air traffic and communications system.
In 2013, the Commission on Audit cleared the resumption of the aviation surveillance project to modernize the CAAP’s system.
“CAAP, in consonance with ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] standards, continues to drive our Area Centers to maintain a safe and secure air transport industry in the same manner that aircraft are guided by illumination coming from approach and landing lights to safely land at their designated runway,” said CAAP deputy general Capt. Jim Sydiongco.
Early this month, CAAP got the approval of an ICAO team which conducted an assessment to determine if the agency complies with international safety standards.
The assessment, dubbed as ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission, was conducted from May 30 to June 8.
The ICVM is an on-site activity during which ICAO team of subject matter experts collects and assesses evidence provided by the State demonstrating that it has implemented corrective action (or mitigating measures for significant safety concerns) to address previously identified findings. ICAO then validates the collected evidence and information.
ICVM team leader Jean Paul de Villeneuve and team member Michiel Vreedenburgh told CAAP officials during the exit briefing yesterday that they were satisfied with the corrective actions taken by CAAP that comply with international safety standards.
The ICVM team said that CAAP garnered 64.6 percent effective implementation score, which is above the 60 percent ICAO benchmark for safety oversight system.
The aviation authority is spending P47.99 million every year to train air navigation professionals, in compliance with ICAO rules.
The Philippines, as a contracting state of the ICAO, is mandated to establish a program to address the need for the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals ensuring adequacy of aviation professionals to fulfill its mandate.