Air traffic outage in Philippines causes long flight delays

印刷用画面を開く

Posted

Category: Business

Listening

Unlocking Word Meanings

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.

  1. divert / dɪˈvɜrt / (v.) – to make vehicles or travelers change direction
    Example:

    Vehicles were diverted to minor roads because there was an accident on the highway.


  2. hamper / ˈhæm pər / (v.) – to slow down the movement or progress of someone or something
    Example:

    The pandemic hampered tourism in the country for almost two years.


  3. outrage / ˈaʊt reɪdʒ / (v.) – to make someone extremely angry
    Example:

    The people were outraged by the government’s slow response during the calamity.


  4. tycoon / taɪˈkun / (n.) – a successful business person who’s very rich and powerful
    Example:

    Elon Musk is a famous technology tycoon. He’s among the top ten richest people in the world.


  5. horrendous / hɔˈrɛn dəs / (adj.) – extremely bad
    Example:

    Getting stuck in a traffic jam for four hours is horrendous.


Article

Read the text below.

Nearly 300 domestic and international flights at the airport in Manila, Philippines, were either delayed, canceled or diverted January 1, causing misery for over 65,000 passengers during the New Year holiday after a power outage hampered air traffic operations.


Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista in an evening news conference apologized for the inconvenience and said authorities are working to assist all affected passengers.


Bautista said the problem started in the morning, when the Air Traffic Management Center, which oversees all flights in Philippine airspace, lost communication, radio, radar, and internet because of the power outage.


The air traffic system was restored in late afternoon and flights resumed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.


Officials said they requested airlines to mount more flights and to upgrade to more wide-body planes to accommodate more passengers, and that full recovery was expected after 72 hours.


Some travelers were outraged, among them tycoon Manny Pangilinan, chairman of the telecommunication company PLDT, who said he was on his way to Manila from Tokyo when the outage happened.


“We’re told radar and navigation facilities at NAIA down. I was on my way home (from) Tokyo – 3 hours into the flight, but had to return to Haneda. 6 hours of useless flying but inconvenience to travelers and losses to tourism and business are horrendous,” he tweeted.


This article was provided by The Associated Press.


Viewpoint Discussion

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.

Discussion A

  • If the incident at the airport in Manila happened in your country, how do you think people would react? How do you think the government would respond? Discuss.
  • A news source reported that the secretary of Transportation of the Philippines coordinated with the airlines to provide food, refreshments, transportation, and accommodation to affected passengers. Do you think those actions were enough? Why or why not? Discuss.

Discussion B

  • Do you think inconveniences can ever be avoided during any trip? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • If you had a dream destination but you found out that you might face some inconveniences (ex. heavy traffic, crowded areas), would you still visit it? Why or why not? Discuss.