Philippine Airport Runway in Davao Cleared of Cebu Pacific Plane, Resumes Normal Operations

Davao International Airport in the Philippines resumes normal operations after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) cleared the runway and removed the damaged Cebu Pacific aircraft.

The third busiest airport in the country has remained closed from Sunday night until Tuesday afternoon. CAAP allowed the airport to operate Tuesday evening. The closure of the airport meant an average economic loss of PHP5 million a day. This is according to the data of Daniel Lim, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce.

Cebu Pacific was given a deadline until 3pm Tuesday by aviation authorities to remove the plane from the runway so airport operations could return to normal. The Gokongwei-owned budget airline asked for an extension of the said deadline but the CAAP denied its request because of the economic impact of the airport's continued closure.

Aviation law prevents CAAP from taking over the removal operations immediately because Cebu Pacific reserves the right to take action in recovering its aircraft. Since the deadline has lapsed, CAAP has deployed an engineering team from Singapore to tow the heavily damaged aircraft.

Meanwhile, passengers of Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, Zest Airways are relieved of the news. Airlines will no longer reroute their passengers to General Santos City and spend on bus fare, meals and hotel accommodations.

Preliminary investigation

Initial findings of authorities' investigation suggest a pilot error and not an engine issue that caused the runway overshoot. Passenger accounts aboard the damaged aircraft suggest the lack of emergency response training from crew members. There was no immediate order to evacuate the aircraft. The passengers took it among themselves to sooth one another and head for safety.

There were no casualties but the crew's controversial actions may have damaging repercussions to Cebu Pacific reliability as a service company. Reports and witnesses also suggest the pilot was among the first to leave the airplane after it skidded on the runway. The aircraft's inflight recorder has been shipped to Singapore for analysis.