Cessna makes emergency landing at Mactan airport

Incident resulted in delays of flights 

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—A Cessna aircraft from the Philippine Airforce (PAF) made an emergency landing on the runway of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) at around 2:15 a.m. on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

The incident resulted in the delays of flights at the airport.

Lieutenant Colonel Israel Galorio, spokesperson of PAF Visayas-Command, said that their Cessna C208B aircraft was involved in the emergency landing.

READ MORE: Remains of 4 passengers of fallen Cessna plane found near Mayon crater

He said that the aircraft’s engine suffered problems right after it took off.

“Upon take off, biglang nag-apoy ‘yung engine niya,” Galorio said in a text message.

(Upon take off, its engine suddenly caught fire.)

Fortunately, Galorio said that the pilot and the crew of the plane were all safe after the landing.

Temporary runway closure

The incident resulted in the closure of the airport’s runway for three hours.

Edilyth Maribojoc, junior manager of corporate affairs of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., said that the incident resulted in the delays of 17 international and domestic flights.

Among the domestic flights that experienced delays were from Cebu to Manila, Cebu to Cagayan De Oro, Cebu to Ilo-Ilo, Cebu to Legazpi, Cebu to Siargao, Cebu to Bacolod, Cebu to Davao, Manila to Cebu, and Clark to Cebu.

READ MORE: Cessna plane crashes in Poland; Five killed

Meanwhile, for international flights, the delays were flights from Cebu to Narita, Japan; Cebu to Incheon, Korea; and Cebu to Pudong in Shanghai.

“The temporary runway closure is tungod atong naay nag emergency landing na aircraft. Nag resume nata sa atong operations at 5:09am and tanan delayed flights kay nakalarga na,” Maribojoc said.

(The temporary closure of the runway was because of the aircraft that made an emergency landing. Our operations resumed at 5:09 a.m. and all delayed flights were able to leave already.)

/bmjo