MANILA (UPDATE) - Airport operations resumed Wednesday after a 2-hour scheduled shutdown of Philippine airspace for maintenance work was finished in a little over an hour.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said it successfully completed the corrective maintenance activity at the Air Traffic Management (ATMC) from 2:00 a.m. to 3:13 a.m.
Personnel manning the Communications Navigation Surveillance Systems (CNSS) and Air Navigation Service (ANS) reported normal operations at the ATMC. Continuous monitoring and finetuning of the CNSS and ANS are being undertaken to ensure the unimpeded operations of airports throughout the country.
CAAP replaced the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units at its air traffic management center from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Wednesday, May 17, to avoid a repeat of the New Year's Day aviation meltdown last January.
CAAP said shutting down the Philippine airspace was necessary to ensure the safety of all aircraft and passengers flying to and from the country.
UPS units regulate the voltage that enters air traffic management’s load side, and can also supply power to the air traffic system in the event of a power outage. CAAP noted that its UPS units were old and need replacement.
CAAP said the critical part of the system upgrade was finished by 3:20 a.m.
One Cebu Pacific flight was delayed during the airspace shutdown while 6 AirAsia flights were canceled in advance while 2 more were given adjusted hours.