Tacloban Airport back to normal ops after temporary closure

The Tacloban Airport returned to normal operations after it was temporarily closed on Friday morning due to a technical problem encountered by an AirAsia aircraft.

"Landing and takeoff operations were back to normal at 10:53 a.m. today," Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio told GMA News Online.

The airport was closed around 8 a.m. after an AirAsia flight Z2320 from Manila experienced a technical problem on its nose wheel steering after it landed on the runway.

This prompted the pilot to stop the aircraft while it is on the runway.

Apolonio said the AirAsia aircraft has been towed from the runway after more than two hours.

Philipppine Airlines earlier cancelled its flight PR 2236 from Cebu to Tacloban and PR 2237 from Tacloban to Cebu as a result of the runway closure from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

"Affected passengers of these flights will be accommodated on replacement flights PR 5236 / 5237," PAL said.

Passengers of cancelled flights may opt option to rebook or refund within 30 days from original flight dates with penalties and charges waived.

"All other Cebu - Tacloban - Cebu and Manila - Cebu - Manila flights today will proceed as scheduled," PAL said.

AirAsia, meanwhile, apologized for the inconvenience caused by the incident. —KBK, GMA News