NAIA terminal’s emergency repair causes major flight delays

Photo CT Coya Magno

 Manila, Philippines - The main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was temporarily closed on Monday as the management conducted an emergency repair.

Runway 06/24 remained closed until 10pm to assure the safety of the public.

The reason for the said repair was a sunken part of a runway which was caused by water seeping in from a crack.

In line with this, more than 200 flights bound to arrive in NAIA have been diverted to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga.

In an exclusive interview of DZRH with Ed Monreal, General Manager of the Manila International Airport Authority, they will hold all flights for the safety of the passengers.

He also assures the public that they will open the runway as soon as it is already safe for planes to use it.

Meanwhile, actor Cesar Montano said that he plans on suing Philippine Airlines for their alleged poor handling of the passengers when their flight was diverted in Clark.

According to Montano, who was on board flight PR-454, coming from General Santos, passengers were hungry as they were stuck inside the holding area of the Clark International Airport.

Montano added that they were stuck inside the plane for hours because the management wasn’t given the go-signal to deplane.

It was around 7:30pm when passengers were informed that they could already go home, using other means of public transportation.

Affected passengers are now deciding if they will file a lawsuit against PAL for the poor service.
As of 11pm, NAIA’s runway 06/24 resumed its normal operations.

According to CAAP’s Eric Apolinio, “flow control measure of 10 minutes longitudinal separation for all flights with destination Manila is implemented from 2200 (10pm) until 07:59am (Tuesday) to avoid heavy influx of traffic arriving in NAIA.