Mindanao power shortage affects PAL flights

MANILA, Philippines—Even the civil aviation industry has already been affected by the power crisis in Mindanao.

On Saturday, Philippine Airlines cancelled an afternoon flight from Manila to Zamboanga City due to power failure at the Zamboanga Airport.

Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesperson, said the power outage forced them to cancel flight PR 125, which was scheduled to depart at 5:05 p.m. for Zamboanga, due to unavailable runway lights necessary for the 6:45 p.m. landing.

“As such, passengers will be accommodated in PAL PR 123 departing Sunday at 4:50 a.m.,” Villaluna said.

Mindanao has been suffering from rotating power brownouts from two to four hours a day. President Aquino earlier said this was because more electricity was being used in the area than the power distributors there had contracted to buy from power generators.

Meanwhile, PAL, citing “commercial” reasons, also announced Saturday the temporary suspension of its flights to Ozamiz City starting Sunday.

“On the same day, passengers from Manila to Ozamiz and vice versa will continue to be served through a code-share agreement with AirPhil Express, which operates at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3,” PAL said in a statement.

It added that Ozamiz-bound passengers have the option to take the PAL flights to Dipolog in Zamboanga del Norte, the nearest PAL station to Ozamiz.

“PAL flies to Dipolog six times a week using the 134-seater Airbus A319 aircraft,” PAL added.

It also advised Ozamiz passengers holding PAL tickets to visit the airline’s ticket offices or call PAL Reservations at 855-8888 for endorsement of their tickets and rebooking with AirPhil Express.

PAL used to fly seven times a week using the Airbus A320 and A319 jets to Ozamiz, one of  three cities of Misamis Occidental.

The flag carrier did not say when it will resume flights to Ozamiz.