Airline Races ?

Airline Race

Yesterday evening I checked the airspace situation over Manila (MNL/RPLL). I do this rather often when we expect guests, to check the congestion around NAIA.

I got a bit astonished, when I saw CEB flight 5J-142 and PAL flight PR-310. Both flights were Manila to Hongkong.
Airline Race
This is a screen hardcopy from our Flight Status page

[GARD]

The PAL Airbus A321 and the CEB Airbus A-320 did a head to head race from Manila to Hongkong.

The PAL flight is scheduled ETD 07:00 p.m. ETA 09:10 p.m.
The CEB flight is scheduled ETD 07:10 p.m. ETA 09:10 p.m.

Is this needed? Is it reasonable to fly with a capacity of up to 400 pax from MNL to HKG at 7:00 p.m.?
Maybe? We do not know.

Anyway, ATC had its part of the game by separating the two aircraft. Unfortunately we couldn’t catch the transponder’s information about the altitude.

[GARD]

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4 Responses

  1. Andreas Heiter says:

    If you would like to see the altitudes too, then check on: http://www.flightradar24.com.
    “Races” like this, if one was really trying to be faster than others, are quite common. BTW I also monitor once in a while the air traffic over the Philippines, especially arrivals to Laguindingan. Unfortunately the airplanes disappear somewhere between 6000 and 4000 Feet because the coverage stops there. Maybe somebody could install a tracker in the greater Cagayan de Oro area.
    Regards Andreas

  2. waebi says:

    I have contacted flightaware.com and flightradar24.com. Maybe one of them sends us an ADS-B receiver.
    Buying one for EUR 700 looks too expensive, but I’ve found a guy in Cebu City who has built one himself at costs of about EUR 5!
    Maybe the Philippines’ south will soon have a better coverage 😉

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