MANILA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- To improve airport fire fighting capability, the Philippine government has acquired 41 units of new airport rescue fire fighting vehicles for major airports across the country, a senior government official said Sunday.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General William Hotchkiss said the deployment of the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting vehicle (ARFF) is part of the upgrading of the Emergency Services Unit of CAAP on all major airports in the country in compliance to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union (EU) international standards for aircraft and rescue fighting requirements.
CAAP operates 81 airports with 41 of them handling commercial flights. These commercial airports had an inventory of 97 fire trucks with acquisition date as far as 1968 with 17 units out of commission due to supply of spare parts limitations, Hotchkiss said.
The working 80 units of fire trucks on CAAP inventory had an average year acquisition of 20 years and only in 2013, three new ARFF were added with 6,000 to 13,000 liter capacity.
Hotchkiss said that with the delivery of the brand new equipment, the CAAP is at par with other airports in the region.