Flight cancellations: Philippines announces new schedule for airspace shutdown on May 17

Philippine authorities have reduced the duration of the country's May 17 airspace shutdown from six hours to two, it was announced on Friday.

The new schedule is now set from 2 am to 4 am, instead of midnight to 6 am, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). During this time, no flight operations will be allowed in the country.

The airspace shutdown will allow the authorities to replace the 'uninterrupted power supply' (UPS) of the airport's air traffic management centre, according to local media reports quoting Bryan Co, senior assistant general manager at the Manila International Airport Authority.

This key upgrade is expected to solve power outages at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport — which had recently left thousands of passengers stranded.

Earlier, the authorities said that although the maintenance task was expected to be completed in less than six hours, some buffer periods have been added as part of the plan.

When the CAAP was about the change, a spokesperson said it was found that the activity can be expedited, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.

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