Improved OTP at NAIA

A recent report released by the New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC), the private sector consortium that took over the management and operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), revealed very interesting findings on the cause of flight delays in the country's premier gateway.

- MARY ANN LL. REYES

The report showed that 70 percent of the delays are due to the airlines and/or ground handlers. Of this, 45 percent is caused by consequential delay which means that when the first flight of the day is delayed, then the rest of the flights will also be delayed. Furthermore, 13 percent is due to aircraft change and 12 percent, aircraft rotation.

Meanwhile, 20 percent of the delay is caused by reasons attributable to the government, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and/or the Air Traffic Control (ATC), 10 percent is due to problems with the airport such as ramp congestion, awaiting push-back clearance or awaiting gate availability while the remainder is due to other reasons like unfavorable weather at origin or destination station.

NNIC officials are optimistic that all these are either improvable or controllable. And the new operators of NAIA seem to be doing a good job in this respect.

From a system-wide OTP or on-time performance (15 minutes or less of delay) of 71.09 percent from January to Sept. 13 this year, the number has increased to 78.9 percent from Sept. 14 to Nov. 19.

NNIC officially took over NAIA operations from the government agency Manila International Airport Authority last Sept. 14 with the task of modernizing the 76-year-old gateway.

From Nov. 1 to 14, 2024, system-wide OTP improved to 81.65 percent, which is deemed a huge feat considering that it was achieved during the peak Undas period. During this period, arrival OTP was at 87.76 percent while departure OTP was at 75.53 percent.