INSIDER VIEW: Spock’s logic in banning turboprops from Manila’s congested airport

January 28, 2025
9:52AM PHT
Updated: January 29, 2025
7:28AM PHT

The policy of Philippine aviation regulators to move turboprop flights out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by the end of the first quarter of 2025 will hurt some passengers who take these smaller aircraft to fly to some cities around the country with smaller airports.

For the most part, these airports are small and less developed because the economics, demography or topography of the locale do not support or cannot justify the use of larger jet aircraft.

So serving these destinations requires airlines to use aircraft of smaller capacities (anywhere between 68 to 78 seats for the ATR 72 used by Cebu Pacific or 74 to 90 seats for the Bombardier Q400 used by Philippine Airlines).

Instead of being pushed forward by jets of hot gases, these planes are pulled through the air by propellers. They fly slower, which is a big advantage when landing in smaller airports with much shorter runways.

But therein lies the problem.

Dax Lucas
The upsides of moving turboprop flights out of NAIA far outweigh the downsides, he says.

Turboprops: Tricycles on highways

Slower flying turboprops tend to slow everything down when operated in close proximity with faster-flying jet aircraft like the popular Airbus A320 or the large Boeing 777 in a heavily congested environment like NAIA.

It’s like driving a Toyota Hi-Ace van on a busy highway, and there’s a tricycle ambling along in front of you (my sincerest apologies to turboprop pilots, but please bear with my analogy as I make my point). You can neither overtake it on the left because of oncoming vehicular traffic, nor on the right because it’s unsafe.

Yet tricycles serve an important role in the Philippine transportation scheme, serving side streets that buses or jeepneys can’t get to. So should they be allowed on the North Luzon Expressway? No. You restrict them to the side streets where they can continue serving their locales without disrupting the flow of vehicular traffic on the main highway.

Operational differences

When lining up airplanes for landing, air traffic controllers have to allocate wider spacing between smaller and slower flying turboprops compared to large jets.

A turboprop on final approach to NAIA’s heavily used Runway 6-24 (the one that has Sucat on one end the South Luzon Expressway on the other) can’t fly too close to a large jet ahead of it, lest it be tossed around by turbulent air caused by the larger aircraft in front (“wake turbulence” in aviation parlance).

Meanwhile, a jet (average final approach speed: 130-150 knots depending on size) lined up behind a turboprop (average final approach speed: 85-130 knots depending on size) has to give it bigger distance too, lest the faster flying jet bumps into the rear of the slower flying turboprop in the long queue of planes lined up for landing.

And here’s another thing: on the ground, slower moving turboprop aircraft usually take longer to vacate an active runway to make way for the plane lined up behind it to land. Again, that means air traffic controllers have to allocate more space and time for jets operating around turboprops.

A turboprop with 80 passengers more or less occupies the same airport slot as an A320 with double that number of passengers, much less a widebody jetliner carrying four times as many people.

Obviously, all these factors become problematic in a congested airport like NAIA where limited time and space are always premium commodities.

This is not just a NAIA thing. Airports overseas — Changi, Barcelona, Mumbai and Delhi, among others — already have or are planning to put in place turboprop restrictions to improve efficiency.

A turboprop flight (encircled in red) approaches NAIA's Runway 06 behind a Boeing 777 and ahead of an Airbus A320 on the evening of Jan. 27, 2025./Screen capture from FlightRadar 24.

Good news for Clark… and Sangley?

All this bodes well for Clark International Airport which has long positioned itself (with a mixed degree of success) as a better, more efficient, less congested alternative to NAIA.

Moving turboprop flights to Clark will add almost a million passengers to that airport in a single year, and one can expect a commensurate rise in revenues for the airport as well as for the ecosystem that supports it.

More importantly, Clark and other airports around the Philippines can position themselves as hubs for foreign tourists wanting to enjoy destinations served only by turboprops.

Europe to Siargao? Take Emirates to Clark, then Cebu Pacific to Siargao.

Hong Kong to Coron? Take Cathay Pacific to Mactan, Cebu, then Philippine Airlines to Busuanga.

Let’s not even talk about the beautiful beaches of Panglao in Bohol which is served by regular direct flights from Seoul to Tagbilaran.

If one needs an alternative to Clark that’s closer to Manila, the underutilized Sangley Airport can be developed further, especially if the current Coastal Road from Roxas Boulevard is extended by just a few kilometers from Kawit to Cavite City.

And if we really insist on using NAIA for domestic flights, this is an incentive for citizens of smaller cities or municipalities to urge the national or local governments to expand their small airports to be able to accommodate jet aircraft that will be permitted to fly directly to Manila.

‘The needs of the many…’

No doubt about it: Moving flights of turboprops out of NAIA will inconvenience thousands of passengers who take these smaller airliners to reach smaller cities with smaller airports. Starting March 30, it will take a little more effort for travelers to fly to these places.

But there is also no doubt about it: Moving these flights out of the Philippines’ main aviation gateway will benefit millions of people who fly into or out of Manila in terms of more efficient airport operations, higher passenger throughput and, ultimately, fewer and shorter flight delays.

Ultimately, the choice that is faced is a cold but simple calculus: for an unfortunate few to be inconvenienced for the sake of a better experience for millions with this turboprop transfer policy… or for everyone (whether you’re off to a weeklong surfing trip to Siargao via turboprop or an urgent business meeting in Cebu via a widebody jet) to be inconvenienced by maintaining the status quo.

“Logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Spock said in the 1982 Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan.

By this measure, our aviation regulators made a logical choice — the right choice.

About the author
Daxim L. Lucas
Daxim L. Lucas

Senior Reporter

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