DAMAGED ROOF The ceiling and glass panels of the terminal and at least two buildings at the Tuguegarao City airport in Cagayan province were damaged when Typhoon “Ompong” made landfall on Saturday. —PHOTO COURTESY OF CAAP
Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut) left many airports in northern Luzon in disarray, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) reported on Sunday.
The CAAP said runways at some airports were caked in mud from landslides or submerged in up to 20 centimeters of floodwater, at least one building had its roof blown off, and most had no power.
Only three of nine airports hit by Ompong—in Basco, Batanes province; Laoag, Ilocos Norte; and San Fernando, Pampanga—managed to return to normal operations by Sunday, the CAAP said.
Operations at Loakan Airport in Baguio City were limited to helicopter flights, as its runway was plastered with mud from a landslide in the area.
Humanitarian flights only
Two airports — in Cauayan, Isabela province, and Tuguegarao, Cagayan province — were operational, but only for humanitarian and medical assistance flights.
In Pangasinan province, the Lingayen airport was closed, as its runway was submerged in 20 centimeters of floodwater.
Several of the airports also sustained damage to property.
The roof of an administrative building in the Laoag airport and polycarbonate sheets on the roof of the Basco airport were ripped off; electrical wires and bulbs at the airport in Palanan, Isabela province, were blown; and the ceiling and glass panels of the terminal and at least two buildings at the airport in Tuguegarao were damaged.
On Sunday morning, the CAAP deployed air traffic personnel to the airports in Cauayan, Laoag and Tuguegarao to replace exhausted air traffic controllers there.
The CAAP said it had not been able to contact the airport at Itbayat, also in Batanes province, as of 4 p.m. on Sunday.
No flights for days
The agency said early notices of runway closure meant no one was stranded inside the airports, but the indefinite closure of so many aviation hubs in northern Luzon, together with a slew of damaged roads, was likely to keep many air travelers grounded for days.
Further complicating the situation are increasing flight cancellations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila, where at least 198 flights have been canceled since Saturday.
Eight flights into and out of Naia had been canceled as of press time on Monday by Cathay Pacific and local carrier Cebu Pacific Air.
All eight were scheduled services between Manila and Hong Kong, where Ompong was headed after wreaking havoc in northern Philippines.