Pope may take chopper to Tacloban

Pope Francis AP FILE PHOTO

Pope Francis may be forced to take either a turboprop aircraft or a helicopter from Cebu when he visits Tacloban in January next year.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said repair work at Daniel Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City would take at least six months to complete, meaning the facility would be able to serve only small aircraft starting on Thursday.

CAAP Deputy Director General John Andrews said discussions with a contractor pegged the cost to replace the 12.7-centimeter asphalt on the whole 2,100-meter runway at an initial P500 million.

“We considered the visit of the Pope in our plans. But we decided that we could not delay the repairs,” Andrews said.

The Tacloban airport will be closed today, as repair work to address growing potholes begins. The airport will reopen on Thursday, but only for smaller turbo-propeller planes, Andrews said, as operations for larger commercial jets like Airbus A320s will need to wait for the full rehabilitation to be completed. The A320 is the backbone of most airline fleets operating in the country today.

The rehabilitation was prompted after the Tacloban airport was heavily damaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” which struck the country last November, killing thousands and damaging infrastructure.

“We expect this repair to last at least six months, but that also depends on the weather,” Andrews said, explaining that the process could be prolonged.

Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Air Asia Philippines and Tiger Air operate at the airport and have requested that they stop operating at the air gateway until repairs are carried out.

The Tacloban airport, the main air gateway to Tacloban province, serves 24 flights per day, the CAAP said.  Andrews said that because airlines would be limited to smaller planes in their fleets, they might need to increase flight frequency to serve their typical demand.

This is not the first time that the Tacloban airport is being closed. Last July 8, operations were shut down after the last plane left at 5 p.m. to allow the repair of the potholes on the runway. The airport resumed operations at 5 a.m. on July 10.

At least 2,000 passengers were stranded last July 9, after they were caught by surprise by the closure of the biggest airport in Western Visayas.

Some 20 flights of four airlines were suspended.

Retired Brig. Gen. Rodante Joya, CAAP chief finance officer, said airlines had been complaining about the potholes.

The airport, gateway to Eastern Visayas provinces, serves the Manila and Cebu routes with 13 flights daily.