Tardy air controllers delay landing of 3 airplanes in Zambo

MANILA, Philippines - Three passenger aircraft failed to touch down on time at the Zamboanga City airport on Friday due to "missing" air traffic controllers. A GMA Flash Report quoted Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines manager Celso Bayabos as saying that the three airplanes were supposed to land at the airport at scheduled intervals. However, the airplanes’ respective pilots ended up refusing to land after realizing that no airport officer was stationed at the control tower to guide them on their descent. The incident forced the three airplanes to hover in the air for a good one hour, before the pilots took the matters into their hands and decided to talk to one another over the radio to decide who would land first. One of the airplanes was a Philippine Airlines Flight 123 that came from Manila and was carrying 140 passengers, a separate radio report said. Bayabos said five air traffic controllers were actually on duty at the time of the incident but had just reported late for work. The five controllers were supposed to be at the tower by 6 a.m. but instead arrived several minutes before 7 a.m. He said the airport management is already dealing with the tardy controllers and will issue a memorandum requiring the five controllers to explain why they turned up late for work. Bayabos stressed that it was the first time that such incident ever happened at the Zamboanga airport and assured it would never happen again. A number of flights were briefly delayed but airport operations have already gone back to normal after the incident. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV