Manila-bound plane diverted to Clark due to congestion at Naia

A Manila-bound Cebu Pacific Air flight on Thursday was diverted to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga, due to congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

According to Miner Generalao, Philippine Daily Inquirer’s head of research who is one of the passengers on the plane, Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 384 from Cagayan de Oro is supposed to arrive 11:30 a.m. at Naia as announced by the aircraft’s captain.

A Cebu Pacific Air flight attendant explains to the passengers why their plane cannot land at Naia on Thursday. MINER GENERALAO

Generalao said that at 11:20 a.m., passengers were told to prepare for arrival. “The plane made its descent and then went up again and sort of circled around the Manila airport for about 40 minutes when the captain announced that for safety reasons the flight had to be diverted to Clark as they are nearing the safety fuel limit and had to refuel in Clark,” she said.

The flight attendant, she said, explained to the “irate passengers” that the plane could not land at Naia due to the many arrivals and departures at the airport.

After landing in Clark, many passengers, who were going to Baguio and nearby provinces, wanted to deplane and go home without the hassle of going back to Manila.

The flight attendants, however, said leaving the plane was not an option as their responsibility was to bring passengers to Manila.

Generalao said the passengers were not allowed to deplane while the aircraft was parked in an isolated part of the Clark airport.

“Another frustration for the passengers is that there is nothing to eat except the snack items that are still for sale. The plane is parked in an isolated part of Clark Airport so passengers who wanted to buy something for lunch could not do so,” she said.

She said the Cebu Pacific plane landed safely at Naia Terminal 3 at 1:53 p.m.

INQUIRER.net has tried to contact Cebu Pacific but the airline company has not responded as of posting. RC