We will analyze what that he taught usñat the closing of Guayaquil airport where your runway lighting system was affected.
after being closed 11 hours in a row, since Monday 11 at 19 hours 20 until 06:28 Tuesday's 12, the second terminal toéarea in importance of Ecuador leaves us some lessons of something that for meás contingency, emergency, unscheduled maintenance or emergent jamás must be repeated again.
Independent of the dayñor what affected the lighting system, that until the publicationón of this post it has not been communicated by the authorities exactly whaté was what happenedó, esta situationón has widely affected passengers mainly and at a second level, to the airídenies.
The closure of Guayaquil Airport
They were past 19 monday hours 11 February 2019 and the networks began to explode, the Airport was forced to close due to an emergency runway lighting system maintenance.
A failure of this magnitude is not new in the world.éreo and several airports have been affected by situations such as éthroughout history.
Many users complained about whyé they didn't do it before, the whyé no se prevé this, but ¿Maybe you plan for your car's tire to go down?, you run out of batteryíor your car's brake light burns out?
Even the industryáregulated markets in the world can be flawed, no isá free of contingencies and always the bestáIt's important to beá the safety of service users.
what happened yesterday, it can happen to any airport, by big, prepared or prevented it from being, the problem is cóhow the contingency subsequently develops.
Image and confidence
What más concerned in the emergency due to failure of the lighting system, It is the international image of the airport and the trust of users and Aerolílines in this terminal.
It must be remembered that fromñor past it was announcedó the arrival of new and más aerolílines to Guayaquil, terminal what isá recovering its passenger growth in favor of starting the postponed Constituciaón de Daular.
The airport requires maintaining managementón and positive image towards the industry so that those who have arrived continue and those who areán to arrive, do so without hesitation, since situations like these generate important pélosses on operators.
Remember that alsoéThere has been no talk of Guayaquil secondary radar system, although this is not the responsibility of the airport as such.
communicationón
A slow reaction could be seenón and communicationón external by the different authorities responsible and involved in the emergency, what affectedó the communicationón of the aerosolsídirections towards their passengers.
In case of any emergency, the communicationón to be effective and concrete, informing at all times what is happening and whyálong time. It is understood that since it is emergent, an estimate cannot be made.ón actual time that the operations will beíare affected, but it could have been más efficient and clear for the benefit of all involved, per máthe situation is complexón whatever.
Alternate airports
The closure of Guayaquil leftó a clear example that on the Ecuadorian coast there is no real alternative airport for or at least, what isé fully equipped and ready to receive X núgroup of diverted flights.
3 international flights were diverted to Manta International Airport, but this one afterés of the earthquake 2016 Its infrastructure was greatly affected and it currently does not have the facilities for migration.ón and customs, what it generatedó I feel like passengers have to wait for long hours inside the planes and when they were disembarked, no existía ningún staff to assist you.
¿Becauseé do not deviateían a Quito?
An operational airport 24 hours and with all the facilities of the case dutyíwhere the alternative máadequate s, but the aerosolsíthey don't use it because 2 reasons, the first for clearly going through operational decisions and second because the crews or aircraft that fly to an airport at sea level do not always, Eastán certified for operationón at a high altitude airport, which means more complexity.
Latacunga could be another alternative, but it does not have all the necessary services.
¿Other nearby airports such as Santa Rosa, Saltpans or Emeralds?
They are large airports with runways fully equipped with runway lights for operation.óN Night, but these have no categoryíinternationally and do not operate 24 hours of the dayía, which does not make them suitable alternate airports for these situations.
The constructionón of the new Manta Airport must consider all immigration facilitiesón and customs to be a true alternative of Guayaquil.
Regulationón aérea
It was possible to see an apparent «hollow» or failure of interpretationón in the user's card of the rights and obligations in case of delays or cancellations, given that it does not mention responsibilities when the problems are attributable to the airport operator.
The artíits asses indicate at all times cómo owes an aerosolíto act and compensate users for different levels of delays, surplus, cancellations, Baggage, etc. But it does not indicate a procedure when the causes of delays or cancellations are the responsibility of an airport..
Although the artíass 52 talk about external cases, fortuitous or force majeure such as weather, where the aerosolsíareas are released from responsibility and only haveán refund the cost of the ticket, It is not defined eitheré It happens when unforeseen events are the responsibility of an airport and the responsibility of the airport operator or c is not mentioned.ómy dutyá compensate or assist its users.
What happened on 11 February Generaló than some aerosolílines and on some flights under art.íass 53, compensate users with maintenance and hosting costs, despite the fact that there is clearly no responsibility of the airlinesílines and what happened is not attributable to them under anyún concept.
It is not the first time that the Guayaquil airport closed due to contingencies, has already undergone emergency maintenance on its track and pavement several times, that alsoén requireá an interventionón older soon.
Let's hope that this situationón be solved and fixed definitively so that it does not happen again in the best of cases and if it is repeated, The authorities take the positive from theseílines that are written with the best intentionsón to improve your action plansón and contingency in case of repetition.
It is a very strong comment for Guayaquil
It is the first time that it happens and although it is true that the operator should have had a faster reaction, it is also true that Quito permanently closes operations due to bad weather and it is Guayaquil that receives all that diverted traffic
It is not possible to insinuate that the operators will think a lot about new routes, since this is not the case, if this concept is applied, they would have to worry more about Quito due to its climatic conditions and aerodrome height, as the author says, that they need to invest in special training for that type of aerodrome.
In any case, the image of Guayaquil cannot be in doubt with inappropriate comments
It is not the first time it happens, the previous one was ago 5 years, Besides, the Guayaquil airport maintains several closures followed by problems also on its runway, so it is not isolated operational problems, that they must continue to care for and improve to continue attracting airlines.
Went 41 LASER passengers who were coming from Caracas-Guayaquil and diverted to Manta due to the closure of the Guayaquil Airport, we landed in manta at 2100, We were a couple of hours on the plane, Then we go down to the baggage delivery room, no toilets for people, because the other room was filled with passengers from American and Avianca. About 02:00 in the morning they moved us to the other room when American had already sent its passengers to the Hotel. At 4:00 a.m. they made us go through immigration and customs and we were leaving the airport at 5:00 a.m..
Laser did not give a glass of water worse compensation, Of course, the Regulation releases them from guilt for fortuitous events that are not their responsibility., But as they express it well, The Law has a hole. It should somehow take care of the passengers and give them some ease
The airlines hide behind the regulation and the passenger who manages as they can. At least for image and responsibility they should take the initiative and do something on their own
I support your comment, but as you say, There is a "gap" and the airlines due to internal policies, they will not do anything beyond what is within their reach or responsibility within the regulation, they are not doing anything wrong in not helping passengers more if there is nothing that forces them.
There will be some that will help you, so it's not your responsibility, for the same, policies of each company.
An additional fact about the Manta airport, a couple of weeks ago a non-scheduled international flight landed after midnight, that is, it had the authorization of the DGAC, requirement that would be understood as sufficient to guarantee the 100% of airport operations. Well, it turns out that in addition to the deficient immigration and customs services, because there was no fuel available, since the supervisors, Petroecuador staff, were sleeping and the person in charge of the taco vehicle, required that the supply be authorized by one of the public servants who comfortably slept… Namely, the services of an international airport that according to the AIP operates 24 hours, depend on the criteria, office hours and even the will of the person in charge of customs, migration, combustible, etc. Great responsibility of the Airport Administration, who, however, has sufficient technical knowledge of aerial activity and its possible variables, has allowed this type of limitation to be a constant and that the airport's air operation is subject to these obstacles that are unacceptable from every point of view. The consequences were anticipated and yesterday they were painfully evident…. The AAC must take urgent measures to change this reality.
Thanks for your comment.