China plane skids off Manila runway
At least 80 international and domestic flights were cancelled
MANILA: A Chinese commercial plane, with 165 passengers and crew on board, skidded off the runway after landing during heavy rain at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila shortly before midnight on Thursday, forcing the cancellation or diversion of at least 80 domestic and international lights.
An official statement on Friday said the aircraft involved was a Xiamen Air Boeing 737 jetliner that swerved to the left of the main NAIA runway upon landing during bad weather and remained stuck at the main vicinity.
The joint statement, issued by oficials of NAIA and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), reported that all the 165 passengers and crew were safe even as investigation was underway to determine the cause.
As a result, at least 80 international and domestic lights were either cancelled, stranding thousands of passengers, or diverted to other international airports like Clark in Pampanga province in Central Luzon and to Cebu in the Visayas.
The international lights affected, the CAAP said, covered practically all the routes served by foreign airlines in the Philippines and also by the country’s airlines — Philippine Airlines and Cebu Paciic — in Asia, Middle East, Europe, the US and Canada in North America.
Eric Apolinario, the CAAP spokesman, explained the cancellation was due to their decision to to allow the plane to remain at the runway until their expert investigators would inish their inquiry on the incident.
Besides, Apolinario said the runway needed to be cleared of foreign objects and debris before it could be declared operational.
He added the wet grass due to to heavy rainfall that continued to pound the area, likewise hampered recovery operations.
Meanwhile, experts explained that as the plane landed at the main runway, it encountered “runway excursion,” meaning it made an “inappropriate exit.” In turn, experts said that “inappropriate exit” meant this could be due to pilot error, poor weather or a fault with the aircraft.