Tagbilaran airport’s temporary closure strands 1,200 passengers

TAGBILARAN CITY – At least 1,200 passengers were stranded after all eight flights at the airport here were canceled due to the disabled plane of the Philippines Airlines (PAL).

One of them was Yul Kim, 36, who had no choice but to go to Cebu and purchase a plane ticket to Manila to be able to catch his plane to Seoul in South Korea.

“The flight to Manila is canceled today and I have a flight tonight going to Seoul,” said Kim.

The cancellation of flights was triggered by the PAL plane that was supposed to leave Tagbilaran airport for Manila at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

But the PAL plane with body number RPC8609 was not able to leave either due to mechanical engine trouble or technical problems, according to the Tagbilaran airport flight information service.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) advised a temporary runway closure at the Tagbilaran Airport on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. until Sunday due to a disabled aircraft.

As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, the PAL plane had not left the Tagbilaran airport.

Flights from other airlines such as AirAsia and Cebu Pacific were canceled because of the “one–plane policy” imposed by Caap at the Tagbilaran airport.

The policy disallows two planes to land at a time at the city airport mainly due to its limited existing runway and apron.

In its travel advisory, the Cebu Pacific canceled flights 5J-617/618, 5J 619/620 and 5J 621/622 –all having the Manila-Tagbilaran-Manila routes on Sunday.

Also canceled were 5J 617/618 and 5J 619/620 on Monday.
AirAsia also canceled flights Z2 351, Z2353 andZ2 355 on Sunday, according to the Air Asia ticket outlet inside the Tagbilaran Airport.