The announcement of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) managers yesterday that airport operations were back to normal does not take them off the hook from the recent chaos at the terminals as the Senate indicated plans to probe a possible national security breach from 61 irregular flights last week.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal admitted to 61 uncoordinated flights when NAIA operations reopened that worsened airport congestion at the four terminals of NAIA.

Sen. Nancy Binay said the breach is not simply a failure of coordination between the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the MIAA but a possible national security breach.

Airport operations were paralyzed for two days, on 17 and 18 August, after a Xiamen Airlines jet crash-landed on the NAIA runway.

Monreal, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, other airport officials and Xiamen Airlines executives and pilots are scheduled for grilling in a Senate inquiry scheduled for next week.

Calls for the ouster of Monreal have been mounting following his very poor response to the NAIA incident that resulted in 36-hour paralysis of airport operations stranding thousands of passengers, both locals and foreigners.

Binay branded the 61 “uncoordinated” flights including those from Xiamen Airlines, at the height of the airport paralysis last weekend, as a glaring security and protocol lapses by airport officials.

Binay, in a statement, expressed disappointment over the lack of coordination between MIAA officials and airline operators which resulted in the unauthorized entry of 61 recovery flights—four of them from Xiamen Airlines.

“It is highly suspicious and anomalous that we allow this huge number of uncoordinated flights in front of our very noses,” Binay said.

“It is a given that there will be delays because of the stalled airplane but last week’s incident pointed to a string of inadequacies and glaring lapses on the part of airport authorities and airline operators which have a potential implication in national security,” she added.

“It would appear that we are not ready for a worst-case scenario. In terms of coordination, there were many lapses,” according to Binay.

“The lack of a coherent system on the ground already suggests an unpleasant situation. What passengers and airlines experienced seriously demands accountability from everyone handling airport operations. What happened at NAIA was totally unacceptable. We cannot continue to fail,” she said.

Apart from the inconvenience caused by the paralysis, Binay cited the security impact of the incident.

“Obviously, these factors are the perfect recipes for any individual who has a criminal mind,” Binay said.

“The 61 ‘uncoordinated’ flights show the weaknesses and gaps in our protocols. I hope the Department of Transportation (DoTr) and its agencies learned something from the recent experience, otherwise the vulnerability of our airports can be exploited by elements wanting to gain access to our facilities—and we are not even talking of airspace incursions,” Binay pointed out.

Monreal claimed flight schedules at the NAIA have normalized.

“In terms of flight schedules, we have returned to normal. All regular schedules, they’re already on normal operations,” said Monreal after receiving fierce backlash from the public.

The slow recovery in NAIA operations drew angry reactions on social media, with some criticizing the MIAA’s need to rent cranes from a construction firm to which Monreal reasoned out that there are no international standards on how long a recovery operation should take.

Thousands of overseas Filipino workers and vacationists were stranded at NAIA after airport operations resumed.

Heavy rains had softened the ground around NAIA’s runway, making it difficult for two cranes rented by MIAA to lift the stalled aircraft.

“Authorities in Bangkok and Kathmandu in separate instances took almost four days to remove stalled planes that blocked their airport runways,” Monreal explained. “Many parts of a crane need to be fixed before it can lift a stalled aircraft.”