CEBU CITY -- The Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is back to its 24/7 operations.
However, the Korean Air plane that overshot the runway on Oct. 23 and caused temporary closure of the airport has yet to be removed from the runway.
Julius Neri Jr., MCIA general manager, said it remains uncertain as to when the aircraft will be removed from Runway 4.
“It may take less than a week or more than two weeks. We don’t know yet,” said Neri in a press briefing Friday, Oct 28.
Still, passengers were advised to coordinate with the airline companies for their flights.
Neri said airline companies have protocols to follow when there are cancelled flights.
“It’s not easy to mount flights once it is cancelled. You have to inform the passengers, ensure that pilots and crew are available for the flight,” Neri said.
Several flights were cancelled after Sunday’s incident. Operations at MCIA stopped for a day before it partially resumed by opening the runway from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Neri said the airport needed to operate partially only as it cannot accommodate evening flights pending the completion of the repair of the runway’s approach lights.
The airport’s runway was shortened from 3.3 kilometers (kms) to 2.7 kms just so it could resume operations, Neri said.
Neri said there had been several suggestions as to how to remove the aircraft from the runway.
“There was a suggestion to take it out piece by piece but once you start cutting, there will be spark and it will be dangerous because there might be some flammable chemicals in the aircraft,” said Neri.
Neri said the immediate goal is to move the aircraft to safer ground and ‘preserve it for possible fact-finding investigation.’
Neri said it was fortunate that no one was hurt during the incident.
The aircraft was carrying 162 passengers and 11 crew. Two of the passengers were infants.
Neri also commended the personnel who helped bring the airport back to its normal operations.
“When the incident happened, the issue was not how to remove the plane but how to open the runway and we have done that,” Neri said.
Neri said opening the airport 19 hours after the incident ‘is a fantastic thing.’
“I cannot tell you how proud I am of our team that we achieved it. This is one example of resiliency of the Cebuanos and the Filipinos in general,” Neri added.
One of those who commended the airport personnel was Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who sits as a board member of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority.
“May I just commend GMR as well as our people at MCIA. An accident of that nature could have paralyzed our operations for days and yet they have been able to resume flights the day after,” Garcia said.
The governor also asked the public that instead of bashing airport officials over inconveniences that the incident has caused to just be thankful that the incident only caused delays or cancellations.
“Can we just say a prayer in thanksgiving to the Sto. Niño and the Lord Almighty that even though this plane overshot the runway, and if you look at the plane, the belly was entirely destroyed but there were no casualties. Everybody was safe and sound save for minor injuries,” Garcia said.