CAAP: Hurdles Remain for Achieving Category 1

Local aviation regulators are still remaining optimistic that the United States Federal Aviation Authority will grant the Philippines Category 1 status lifting restrictions imposed on local carriers that prevent any new carriers from expanding to the United States and any existing carriers from expanding services. However, the US aviation regulator has expressed concerns over the sustainability of recent reforms adding to the list of hurdles that must be overcome before any restrictions are lifted. 

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is targeting that restrictions currently imposed on the country will be lifted in the fourth quarter of 2013. But according to William Hotchkiss, Director General of CAAP, there are two key hurdles that were identified that need to be addressed.

One such hurdle is the difficulty amending a law that would grant increased autonomy to the Civil Aviation Authority while a second hurdle pertains to restrictions that must be overcome that would prevent CAAP from increasing its budget for the continuous training of safety inspectors. "Remaining hurdles will have to address the sustainability issue," said Hotchkiss.

A team of US Federal Aviation Administration inspectors arrived in the country for the second time last month and indicated that the outlook is positive with respect to a possible upgrade before the end of the year with possibility that restrictions could be lifted as early as October.

CAAP and the FAA signed a technical assistance agreement on June 4 which resulted in a two year period of on-going monitoring by the US regulator. Should the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines fail to maintain the reforms that had been previously agreed upon, the FAA may return the Philippines back to Category 2 status which would once again prevent local carriers from expanding services in the United States.

As Philippine Airlines is currently the only local carrier serving the US market, its ability to expand beyond its existing destinations of San Francisco and Los Angeles is restricted.

The Civil Aviation Authority has been pushing for an amendment to Republic Act 9497 that would authorize the government to transfer its state of registry obligations to the state of the operator in addition to allowing the creation of a separate agency to handle aircraft accident investigation.

Hotchkiss says that while several attempts to establish a National Transportation Safety Board have been proposed in the House of Representatives and the Senate, none have been given priority or passage. There are also outstanding concerns about the continuous training of safety inspectors.

"CAAP has the necessary funds to support the recurrent training," Hotchkiss said."However, government accounting rules disallow release of funds for training of contractual employees who make up the majority of our experienced inspector corps."

According to Mokhtar Awan, the Asia Pacific Regional Director of the International Civil Aviation Organization, CAAP's on-going challenges include hiring and keeping qualified technical personnel, modernization, and even "negative" media reporting while issues such as "autonomy" remain a work in progress.

"Safety oversight is a state's responsibility," said Awan. "However, this cannot be achieved solely by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines without the political support from the government of the Philippines."