AUTHORITIES reopened the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Saturday, after it was blocked late Thursday by a Chinese plane that skidded off in a bad landing, overshooting its mark and leaving debris in its wake.
All 157 passengers onboard the Xiamen Airlines flight were safely taken off the plane, but airport workers were unable to remove the plane for 36 hours—leaving more than 100 local and international flights canceled or diverted, and wreaking havoc on the travel plans of thousands of travelers because of the runway closure. Delays in reopening the runway Saturday continued to force flight cancellations, stranding thousands more, many of them camped out at the airport’s departure halls.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Saturday apologized for flight delays and the stranding of thousands of passengers.
“I am saddened by the inconveniences and consequences brought about by the incident involving Xiamen Air,” Tugade said in a statement.
“It is a regrettable experience, which is not of our own liking, nor of our own making. I am sorry. We did our very best to address the situation,” he said.
Tugade said the incident was an “eye-opener and a reminder” for the government and airlines to review and improve aviation protocols in the Philippines.
More than that, however, last week’s closure of the main Naia runway shows that airport facilities in Metro Manila are woefully inadequate and much too vulnerable to accidents or worse, terror attacks. If 36 hours was the best airport authorities could do to reopen the airport’s main runway, then that simply means their best is not good enough.
The runway closure exposed how easily the country’s capital can be cut off from the rest of the world, and how air travel to and from Metro Manila can be paralyzed.
The long-term solution—to build a better airport—has now gained more urgency.
“The single international runway will not really work anymore. Government has to decide now where to build,” said Senator JV Ejercito in the wake of the Xiamen Airlines accident.
Pending the construction of a new airport, the government can use a twin airport system between Clark International Airport and Naia, just like Haneda and Narita in Tokyo, he said.
This would also be reason enough to speed up the construction of the Philippine National Railways line to Clark International Airport and its new P12-billion terminal, which should be operational in June 2020. By then, Clark will be able to accommodate an extra 8 million to 10 million passengers a year, easing the load on Naia.
These are suggestions worth exploring and pursuing now, rather than later, before more serious disruptions occur. Apologies are not enough; now is the time for action.
