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We will analyze what the closing of the 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 most important air terminal in Ecuador leaves us some lessons of something that for more contingency, emergency, unscheduled or emergent maintenance should never be repeated.
Independent of the damage that affected the lighting system, that until the publication of this post it has not been communicated by the authorities exactly what happened, this situation has largely affected passengers mainly and to a second degree, to the airlines.
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 air world and several airports have been affected by situations like this throughout history.
Many users complained why they didn't do it sooner, or why this is not foreseen, but do you plan to have the tire of the car go down, you run out of battery or your car's brake light burns out?
Even the most regulated industry in the world can be flawed, is not exempt from contingencies and the most important thing will always be the safety of the users of the service.
what happened yesterday, it can happen to any airport, by big, prepared or prevented it from being, the problem is how the contingency subsequently develops.
Image and confidence
What most worries in the emergency due to failure of the lighting system, it is the international image of the airport and the confidence of users and airlines in this terminal.
It must be remembered that since last year the arrival of new and more airlines to Guayaquil, terminal that is recovering its passenger growth in favor of starting the postponed constitution of Daular.
The airport needs to maintain a positive management and image towards the industry so that those that have arrived continue and those that are yet to arrive do so without hesitation., since situations like these generate important losses in the operators.
Remember that we have also talked about Guayaquil secondary radar system, although this is not the responsibility of the airport as such.
Communication
A slow reaction and external communication could be seen by the different authorities responsible and involved in the emergency, what affected the communication of the airlines towards their passengers.
In case of any emergency, the communication of being effective and concrete, reporting at all times what happens and for how long. It is understood that since it is an emergency, it is not possible to make a real estimate of the time that the operations would be affected., but it could have been more efficient and clear for the benefit of all those involved, no matter how complex the situation.
Alternate airports
The closure of Guayaquil left a clear example that on the Ecuadorian coast there is no real alternate airport for or at least, that is fully equipped and ready to receive X number of diverted flights.
3 international flights were diverted to Manta International Airport, but this after the earthquake 2016 its infrastructure was greatly affected and it currently does not have the facilities for immigration and customs, which generated that I feel passengers have to wait for long hours inside the planes and when they were disembarked, there was no staff to assist them.
Why don't you divert to Quito?
An operational airport 24 hours and with all the facilities of the case should be the most appropriate alternative, but the airlines don't use it for 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, are certified for operation 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 like Santa Rosa, Saltpans or Emeralds?
They are large airports with fully equipped runways with runway lights for night operation., but these do not have an international category and do not operate 24 hours of the day, which does not make them suitable alternate airports for these situations.
The construction of new Manta Airport You must consider all the immigration and customs facilities to be a true alternate of Guayaquil.
air regulation
Se pudo ver un aparente «hueco» o falla de interpretación en la cartilla del usuario de los 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 articles of the same indicate at all times how an airline should act and compensate users before the 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..
While the article 52 talk about external cases, fortuitous or force majeure such as weather, where the airlines are released from liability and must only return the cost of the ticket, Nor is it defined what happens when fortuitous events are the responsibility of an airport and the responsibility of the airport operator is not mentioned or how it should compensate or assist its users..
What happened on 11 of February generated that some airlines and in some flights under the article 53, compensate users with maintenance and hosting costs, despite the fact that there is clearly no responsibility of the airlines and what happened is not attributable to them under any circumstances.
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, which will also require major intervention soon.
We hope that this situation will be resolved and definitively fixed so that it does not happen again in the best of cases and if it is repeated, the authorities take the positive from these lines that are written with the best intention to improve their action and contingency plans in case of repetition.
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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.