Airlines gradually resuming operations

By Emmie V. Abadilla After an erupting Taal Volcano's ash emissions shut down the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), local carriers yesterday (January 14, 2019) resumed normal operations as the metropolis' atmospheric conditions improved although a total of 40 flights were still cancelled. Philippine Airlines (PAL) cancelled a total of 15 flights, 12 domestic and 3 international. The airline said: "Nearly all of our scheduled flights are operating regularly, although some with timing adjustments," PAL noted in its official statement as of 11 a.m. "It will take time to work through schedule recovery efforts as we redistribute the fleet, undertake rigorous additional inspections and maintenance checks of our Manila-based and Clark-based aircraft to ensure safety and adjust to airport slotting constraints and airspace restrictions." PAL arranged for a replacement of the Manila-Davao-Manila flight to operate in the afternoon, upgraded its PR 732/733 Manila-Bangkok-Manila service from Airbus A321 to a larger A330 aircraft and replaced its Manila-Nagoya flight to operate early this morning (January 15, 2020). On the other hand, Cebu Pacific (CEB) reported its operations in and out of NAIA went "back to normal" as of 9 AM yesterday, although the airline cancelled 7 domestic flights. AirAsia has also resumed operations but cancelled 18 flights yesterday - 15 domestic and 3 international flights to "ensure the safety of passengers and aircraft." Cancelled flights include Z2 8788, Cebu-Manila; Z2 8789, Manila-Cebu; Z2 757, Manila-Cebu; Z2 758, Cebu-Manila; Z2 129, Taipei - Taoyuan Manila; Z2 622, Davao-Manila; Z2 625, Manila-Davao; Z2 626, Davao-Manila; Z2 318, Iloilo-Manila; Z2 306, Manila-Iloilo; Z2 307, Iloilo-Manila; Z2 755, Manila-Cebu; Z2 689, Manila-Cagayan de Oro; Z2 690, Cagayan de Oro-Manila; Z2 322, Manila Tacloban;Z2 323, Tacloban- Manila; Z2 808, Manila-Shenzhen and Z2 809, Shenzhen-Manila.