Showing posts with label Cabin Crew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabin Crew. Show all posts

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Pressure mounts on Cusi to quit CAAP




ALFONSO Cusi, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), is the source of problems besetting the agency because he is not a team player, MalacaƱang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Cusi has opposed the appointment of seven new officials in compliance with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) requirements to have more technical people manning the aviation agency.

The CAAP Board last Nov. 2 passed a resolution approving the appointments of Ramon Gutierrez as deputy director general for administration; Napoleon Garcia, deputy director general for operations; Wilfredo Borja, assistant director general (Air Traffic Services); Andrew Basallote, assistant director general (Air Navigation Service); Edgardo Costes, assistant director general (Aerodrome Development and Management Service); Wilson Mirabona, assistant director general (Aerodrome Development and Management Service); and Andres Laurilla, assistant director general (Civil Aviation Training Center).

Lacierda said the appointment of new officials is one of the measures intended to ensure that the Philippines gets out of the Category 2 classification.

He said Cusi also politicized the deferred arrival late last month of the ICAO audit committee that would review the compliance of Philippine airports to international aviation standards.

Lacierda said ICAO, in its letter, said its reviewers will not be able to go to Manila because of "operational reasons" but "he (Cusi) politicized it and made it appear like they have no confidence in the Philippine government."

"Al Cusi was very much against the appointment of these people. So that’s why we are rectifying the situation. And he is not helping any," he said.

He said Cusi is a minority in the CAAP board but he could not be ousted because he has a fixed term until March 2013.

Cusi was appointed by former President Gloria Arroyo last March.

"We would like to urge him that for the sake of the national government, for the sake of the Filipino people, for the sake of our airports to really move out of Category 2, that he cooperate with the vast majority of the Board of Directors to ensure that we are taken out of Category 2," Lacierda said.

The CAAP was created by R.A. 9497 on March 23, 2008 in answer to a January 2008 downgrade from Category 1 to Category 2 by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) based on its International Aviation Safety Audit (IASA) in November 2007.

FAA said "the Philippines was no longer overseeing the safety of its airlines in accordance with international standards and practices."

Cusi denied he is not a team player even as he insisted that the administration violated the law in appointing seven new CAAP directors.

He said the CAAP guidelines for the selection of officials provides that holdover permanent employees should first be considered, followed by holdover temporary employees, then holdover casuals followed by holdover contractual employees and lastly, non-CAAP employee applicants.

He said the seven career positions are career "plantilla" positions being occupied by CAAP holdover employees in an OIC capacity, because they are still undergoing selection process as defined by the law.

Cusi said he tried to explain in writing to the CAAP board prior to the arrival of the ICAO Validation Mission that it is not safe to shake the organization during times of audit.

"The present unclear political announcements of a change in senior management could create, in ICAO’s opinion, an indeterminable future of professional processes within CAAP," he said. – Regina Bengco










Monday, December 6, 2010

Aviation sector welcomes liberalization moves


Aviation sector welcomes liberalization moves
 MANILA, Philippines – Major players in the aviation industry including regulators and domestic airline companies welcomed legislative proposals opening other international airports in the country to foreign carriers.

This was revealed during a public hearing called by the congressional committee on transportation chaired by Rep. Roger Mercado to tackle two bills liberalizing air transport to and from international airports outside of Manila.

Bill no. 1601, filed by Congressman Rex Gatchalian, seeks what he calls pocket open skies policy covering Laoag, Clark, Subic, Cebu and Davao.

Meanwhile, bill No. 1352 authored by Congresswoman Aurora Cerilles recommends a comprehensive open skies policy that seeks opening up all airports for direct flights to and from other countries by both domestic and foreign airlines. It also includes the upgrading of those airports as precondition to air travel liberalization.

The committee devoted the whole session to getting the views of main stakeholders in the country's aviation industry and government regulatory agencies.

The lawmakers and the airline representatives arrived at a consensus that the proposed open skies policy, when finalized, should be anchored on the principle of reciprocity.

This would mean that for every nation that will be granted rights for their air carriers to land and take-off from Davao or Cebu from a city in that country, should also grant the same privilege to Philippine-owned air carriers.

Two major hurdles, however, surfaced. An executive of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines ((CAAP), the agency that replaced the defunct Air Transportation Office, revealed that the ban on local airlines to and from the United States and the European Community may be lifted only by the middle of next year.

A ban was slapped by aviation authorities in the US and Europe after inspection teams found that the country failed to comply with 58 international safety standards.

In response to the ban, Congress replaced the ATO with CAAP. The new agency said that as of this week, they have corrected 85 out of the 89 deficiencies. It will take up to the second quarter of next year to get the Philippines reclassified as a category one country whose carriers will be allowed to fly to the US and European destinations.

The downgrade, it was explained, was the fault of government, not the local airlines which are compliant with international standards.

The other hurdle is the bad reputation of the country as a dangerous destination.