Jeeps, buses and taxis are not the only modes of transportation in the country that are engage in colorum operations. There are also colorum airplanes that regularly fly the Philippine skies, according Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) General Manager Ed Monreal.
These colorum planes, he said, are actually commercial airplanes that take flight or land in the daytime, although their assigned slots are at night.
“May nakita tayo, parang colorum sa eroplano, may flight schedule sa gabi pero ang destinasyon is not night-rated [We bore witness to the flight of a suspected colorum plane which took flight to an airport that is not night-rated],” Monreal said.
He revealed that these carriers somehow manage to fly at daytime, thus disrupting the flow of traffic that had been scheduled earlier by Slot Australia, the foreign company that arranges the schedules of all domestic airlines.
“If we can’t control the distribution of aircraft, there would be disruptions in the schedule—bumubuntis,” he said.
“The Manila International Airport Authority was able to talk to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the Civil Aeronautics Board to look for solutions, otherwise the congestion will persist,” Monreal added.
He said that since Slot Australia was given the prerogative to provide the schedules, all domestic-flight operations were rationalized, “and thus we were able to avoid the spikes that accompany unscheduled flights.”
Today Monreal said the Naia operates at an optimum level of 40 movements per hour (MPH), whereas previous to that, it was sometimes 50 and sometimes 47 MPH.
To further decongest the airport, Monreal said the Department of Transportation is requesting emergency powers, so that even general aviation (GenAv) airplanes would be compelled to leave the Naia for
Sangley Point.
“Mga bigatin ang may-ari ng GenAv airplanes, “ he said, without further elaborating.