ATO Chief Fired After FAA Downgrade

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PUBLISHED ON January 18, 2008 AT 4:54 AM

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo designated today Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza as the new head of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in a concurrent capacity.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said Mendoza will replace Engr. Daniel Dimagiba who was acting ATO chief.

Bunye told members of the Malacanang Press Corps that the President has given Mendoza three months to address the administrative and technical issues on the passage of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) bill in Congress.

“We have an announcement early this afternoon that the President had designated Mendoza on concurrent capacity as ATO chief and giving him three months deadline to take care, to address the administrative, technical issues arising out of the passage of the CAA bill,” Bunye said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US aviation watchdog, has downgraded the country’s aviation ratings from Category I to Category 2 along with countries like Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia.

The FAA has informed the government it has ’serious concerns” about its oversight of air operations which, it said, were not in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards.

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One Response to “ATO Chief Fired After FAA Downgrade”

Captain Luciano Castelo Jr. Says:
January 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
The downgrading was overkill and not necessary, Philippine aviator standards are still best so far, practice safety all the time. FAA is acting unprofessional,sad to say

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