CAAP limits flights to Tacloban

(Updated 7:07 p.m.) The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has limited the number of aircraft in Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City, one of the areas hardest hit by super typhoon Yolanda,  to prioritize carriers used for relief purposes. 

 

In a statement, CAAP said it issued a memorandum circular “limiting the number of general aviation aircraft... to prioritize aircraft that carries relief supplies and equipment, military flights and commercial flights using turboprop aircraft.”

 

The memorandum circular  aims “to control the arrivals of private aircraft at the terminal causing disruption on the massive relief operations,” the aviation authority noted. 

 

Tacloban's airport reopened Monday, three days after Yolanda barreled through the coastal city, sweeping off villages and cutting communication lines. The CAAP, however, only allowed flights by turboprop aircraft. 

 

The Daniel Z. Romualdez airport's communication tower and radar equipment were totally damaged after Typhoon Yolanda battered Tacloban. 

 

Other airports that reopened on Monday were situated in Guiuan in Samar, Bantayan and Roxas in Cebu, Kalibo and Caticlan in Aklan, Busuanga in Palawan, San Jose in Mindoro, Ormoc in Leyte, Tagbilaran in Bohol, Borongan, Biliran and Calbayog in Samar, and Dumaguete in Negros Oriental, CAAP said. 

 

Catbalogan airport in Western Samar remains closed because it lacks a perimeter fence. 

 

In a statement Wednesday, Cebu Air Inc., the operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, said it will operate four flights between Cebu and Tacloban until November 25. 

 

The first Cebu-Tacloban-Cebu flight will be reserved for passengers affected by flight cancellations caused by the typhoon, and for humanitarian purposes, Cebu Pacific said. 

 

On Monday, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Bombardier Dash  8 turboprop aircraft will be used for the Tacloban-Cebu stretch of the flight while the restriction is in place, via the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

 

PAL has been airlifting critical supplies and relief goods since Monday. 

 

A PAL official, who asked not to be named, on Wednesday said the airline mounted direct Manila-Tacloban humanitarian flights on Nov. 11 after CAAP allowed commercial airlines carrying relief goods to land in Tacloban. — JDS, GMA News