Gov't to resolve US FAA downgrade in 3 months

The Philippine government plans to resolve the aviation safety rating downgrade dealt to it by the United States Federal Aviation Administration within three months, by passing a civil aviation law and spending an estimated $20,000 per pilot for training to fill the shortage of aircraft personnel. "We are targeting three months to address the issue. We will try our best," Leandro R. Mendoza, secretary of the Department of Transportations and Communication told reporters in a briefing. Mendoza is currently the acting Air Transportation Office chief after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sacked former ATO officer-in-charge Engr. Daniel Dimagiba days after the US FAA announced the downgrade. The US FAA downgraded its rating of the Philippines to Category 2, including the country in a list of 21 countries that failed to meet minimum safety oversight standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The Philippines was classified with, among others, Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), and Nauru. Carriers from these countries will still be allowed to fly to the United States, but will not be allowed to expand their services. Mendoza said his agency has about P4 billion unused funds for priority projects to pump prime the economy, which may be used to finance additional equipment, facilities and pilot training programs to address the downgrade. The passage of the bill creating the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, expected by February, Mendoza said, would also help solve the problems raised by the US FAA move. The bill, which has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate but not the bicameral committee, aims to convert ATO into a corporate entity, which will provide financial flexibility and enhance commercial operations and management efficiency. It will strengthen the organizational structure of the authority to be more responsive to the needs of the country’s civil aviation industry. It will also enhance civil aviation regulation and enforcement, which is one of the deficiencies noted by FAA. "Once we have the new CAAP, I believe that the current issues such as equipments, salaries, among others can be resolved," Mendoza said adding that with the new authority the government can offer competitive salaries. Mendoza said that the ATO's employee turnover is at two to three aircraft personnel per month. At present, ATO has 12 check pilots and 27 traffic air controllers with 32 vacant positions. "There are no takers because of the low salary," Mendoza said saying that the government can only give at least P25, 000 per month compared to the $3,000 salary being offered by the international commercial airlines. - GMANews.TV