ILOILO AIRPORT CLOSED; 40 FLIGHTS CANCELED

More than 40 local and international flights to and from Iloilo City were canceled on Saturday as transport authorities tried to remove a Cebu Pacific aircraft that overshot the runway on Friday night.

The flight cancelations came after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) ordered the temporary closure of Iloilo International Airport until 6 p.m. on Saturday.

However, the airport remained closed as of press time on Saturday night.

Flight 5J 461 from Manila “veered to the side of the runway” after landing at the airport, according to Eric Apolonio, Caap spokesperson.

The aircraft, an Airbus A320, was still on the runway as of late Saturday afternoon.

Charo Logarta-Lagamon, Cebu Pacific corporate communications director, said no one was hurt and all 180 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane were safely evacuated.

Accommodation

But the accident led to the cancelation of flights, prompting the airline to assign seven additional flights to and from Roxas City to accommodate passengers stranded in Iloilo.

Land transfers between Iloilo and Roxas had been provided by Cebu Pacific, Lagamon said.

The accident also prompted another airline, Philippine Airlines (PAL), to cancel 14 flights. PAL said passengers could either rebook without charge or get refunds.

An advisory from PAL said the airport would reopen to- day at around 7 p.m.

Cebu Pacific said its passengers could either rebook or get refunds, or ask to be rerouted to alternate airports, like those in Roxas, Bacolod and Kalibo for domestic flights, and Cebu and Manila for flights to Singapore.

Lagamon said “all affected passengers will be entitled to a free one-way travel voucher.”

Cebu Pacific, known for its budget flights, said it was working with authorities to investigate the accident and hasten the airport’s reopening.

Screeching, scraping sound

Some passengers recounted the experience.

Joenar Pueblo, Iloilo-based lawyer, said he felt the plane shake “while we were descending and we were propelled forward on our seats as we landed hard.”

“I heard screeching and a loud scraping sound like metal on concrete,” Pueblo said.

The plane came to a stop some 12 seconds after landing.

Pueblo said passengers were made to disembark the plane through a chute. “I have seen that only in the movies,” he said.

Some of the passengers were visibly shaken, Pueblo said. “Some of the passengers were crying,” he said.

The next day, Pueblo said he woke up with body aches.

Caap said in its statement that it was “doing its best to extract the aircraft so that flights will normalize soon.”

Mecine Torres, Iloilo airport manager, said two flights bound for Hong Kong were also canceled.