MORE than 20 domestic and international flights were cancelled while 27 others were delayed after the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) started the repairs on the airport’s runway yesterday from 2:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
The flights were cancelled because they had to repaint the thresholds of the runway, which would be shorter by 710 meters — the stretch to be repaired, said Mary Ann Dimabayao, public information officer of Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), in an interview yesterday.
This would mean that for the next two months, which is the estimated time of the completion of the runway repairs, the planes taking off and landing at the airport would have to use a shorter runway or 2,600 meters of the 3,310 meter-runway, said Dimabayao.
“2,600 meters na lang sa runway ang usable para landingan sa mga eroplano. The rest under repair naman. This was agreed during our stakeholders meeting last month pa (Only 2,600 meters of the runway would be usable for planes to land on. The rest of it would be under repair. This was agreed upon last month during the stakeholders meeting),” she said.
She, however, assured that even if the runway would be shortened, this would not affect the departure and the landing of airplanes.
“Back to normal na ta, sir, ug kanang pagpamubo nato sa runway, gipaubos man god namo na og consultations gikan sa experts (We are back to normal, and we had consulted experts on shortening of the runway stretch),” Dimabayao said.
Dimabayao said that the runway repair project would cost P58 million and would be done in two phases.
She said that they had started with the repainting of the thresholds of the runway, after that they would start the asphalting work on the 710-meter stretch.
However, she said that the weather would also be a factor in the repairs, if the weather would not cooperate then the project might last longer than two months.
Based on the advisory of the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., about 12 arrival and 12 departure flights were cancelled due to the implementation of the runway repair.
The advisory also said that there were 14 arrival and 13 departure flights that were delayed, and their times to leave or depart were adjusted.
According to Cebu Pacific in its website, the airline cancelled at least 10 flights which included flights from Manila to Cebu, Cebu to Clark, and Cebu to Ormoc, and Davao to Cebu because of the Mactan airport runway maintenance and asphalting work.
“Affected passengers may rebook their flights for another scheduled travel within 30 days from the original departure date,” said Cebu Pacific.
The passengers may also opt for a full refund or just place it on a travel fund for future use, the airline said.
“We sincerely hope for our passengers’ understanding as this situation is beyond our control,” the management of Cebu Pacific said in its advisory./with Inquirer report