A GMANews reports Sunday morning says that planes landing at the Philippine capitol airport are landing on visual flight rules as navigation aids – VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft – which for allow automated flight system to assist pilots in landing aircraft are still out.

[]… Operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, contrary to earlier reports, are not yet fully restored as the Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Radio Range (VOR) is still being reconfigured, an official of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ Operations Center, who declined to be named said Sunday.

Aviation authorities have replaced the faulty navigation equipment that stalled flights Saturday at the NAIA, but CAAP technicians are still “reconfiguring the device on site” and pilots are landing at the airport visually aided by the control tower, the CAAP official told GMANews.TV. … []

The news is somewhat alarming as the country’s airlines has previously been restricted in European airspace because of allegations of safety violations. The reports could affect tourist arrivals in the capitol region. Two airports are within two hours driving time from the airport as alternate. The Diosdado Macapagal international airport in the former Clark Air force base being the closest and another the former Cubi point naval airbase now the Subic International Airport are both fully equipped for air operations.

It is not clear if the two airports are also affected – Clark is the larger of the two – and the Subic airport is slowly being planned for phase out per gov’t plans to convert the area for real estate development. A move that has been criticized as the airport would lessen the number of available airports runways within requirements for international air travel.

NAIA is Located between Pasay City and Parañaque City, about seven kilometers south of Manila’s city proper, and southwest of Makati City. NAIA is the main international gateway for travelers to the Philippines and is the hub for all Philippine airlines. It is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a branch of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Officially, NAIA is the only airport serving the Manila area. However, in practice, both NAIA and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga serve the Manila area, with DMIA catering mostly to low-cost carriers that avail of the lower landing fees than those in NAIA.

In the long term, DMIA is set to replace NAIA as the primary airport of the Philippines. A plan that is expected to take place by 2020 with the Metro Manila airport planned to be designated as a 2nd tier international airport and relegated to primarily for domestic and private aviation. The airport is named for Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated at the airport in 1983.

After reading the GMANews report I placed several calls and text messages to pilots who all reported the GMANews report as accurate and the VOR still being adjusted. Pilots say however that Manila radar is operational and not affected and most aircraft have GPS guidance which is actually more accurate than VOR.

In 2009, the airport saw an 11.4% growth resulting in 24.1 million passengers; thus making the airport the 48th busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic.[6]

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