Mount Mayon Eruption and its Effects to PH Aviation

Right: Photo by Ezra Acayan

Mount Mayon, one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines had some series of eruption for the past two weeks. PHILVOCS issued an alert level 3 warning to the province of Albay. Forced evac was implemented by the local government to those who are living within the permanent danger zone areas of the volcano.

Two nights ago, it spewed ash, blanketing neighboring towns of the province. It doesn't just put the livelihood of its people in danger, but also to aircraft flying along the airways near the volcano.

Beginning Monday, airways (a corridor where aircraft fly) near Mount Mayon were completely closed as the volcano dangerously spewed ash as high as 7 miles into the atmosphere. Airways such as B462, W9, W9A, and W9B are closed until further advised. Flying through the ash will severely damage the aircraft (watch this episode of Air Crash Investigation for your reference).

These airways are one of the country's busiest. They are being used mostly by domestic flights flying from Manila to Tacloban, Legazpi, Butuan, Mactan-Cebu, and Davao. There are a number of international flights using these routes too. With the closure of these airways, flights flying southeast are being rerouted to W6, B472, A461, and W11 airways, all of which are located in the west sector of the country. Take note that these airways are already congested, since several international flights flying through our airspace use these (e.g., flights flying from Singapore to Tokyo, Jakarta to Hongkong, Bangkok to Tokyo, Denpasar to Seoul and Tokyo). If our country is a highway and the aircraft are vehicles, then the Philippines is a very busy highway with lots of interchanges and intersections. Imagine the chaos if one interchange closes for repairs. My colleagues at the Area Control Center are trying their best on this rerouting procedures so as to minimize the delays.

This rerouting procedure will continue until Mayon stops spewing ash into the atmosphere. In the meantime, expect ground delays if you're flying out from Manila.

PS: The Philippines sits at the Pacific Ring Of Fire, an area where volcanic and seismic activities happen frequently.