Davao airport back to normal after shutdown caused millions in losses

(Updated 9:30 a.m. June 5) The Cebu Pacific plane that was a bone in Davao's throat was finally removed from the runway of the city's international airport Tuesday night, allowing air travel to resume through the country's southern gateway.

Davao's chamber of commerce had declared that businesses in the city were incurring at least five million pesos in losses every day due to the airport's shutdown. The airport itself estimated lost income at a million pesos a day.

The runway had been closed since Sunday night after a Cebu Pacific plane made an errant landing, barely avoided a horrific crash, and skidded into the runway's muddy shoulder, where it remained mired as airline and airport personnel struggled to extricate it for two days.

Miraculously, no one was injured, but irate passengers have taken to Facebook and other media to complain about the seemingly lax emergency response by Cebu Pacific's air crew.

Passengers of Flight 5J-971 have decided to file a class suit against the airline, according to a report on dzBB on Wednesday morning.

The report said the passengers met Tuesday night and decided to go ahead with legal action, the report said.

Cebu Pacific's apology

Cebu Pacific said it had brought in a team of experts from the Singapore Airlines Engineering Company to remove the aircraft.

In a tweet, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the airport's Runway 5/23 "resumed normal operations" at 8 p.m. after the plane was towed out of the way about an hour earlier.

Cebu Pacific said that the airline will resume its normal flights to and from Davao City starting Wednesday.

In an advisory posted on its Twitter account, the air carrier also reiterated its apology for the inconvenience caused by the plane's emergency landing.

"All Cebu Pacific (CEB) flights to and from Davao will be back to normal starting tomorrow, June 5, 2013, Wednesday, after its disabled aircraft was removed from the Davao Airport runway," it said.

Cebu Pacific said the Davao International Airport's runway was cleared at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 48 hours after the emergency landing.

On Sunday, Cebu Pacific's Flight 5J-971 made an emergency landing amid a downpour and blocked the airport's runway, forcing the closure of the airport until Tuesday evening.

It faces not only an investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, but also a boycott by some of its customers, including Ateneo de Davao University, over the alleged inaction of its flight crew as terrified passengers were in a state of panic after the crash landing.

Cebu Pacific CEO Lance Gokongwei has already apologized for the incident. He thanked the flight crew for their presence of mind and handling of the situation.

All 165 passengers on board deplaned safely, he pointed out.

“We also thank the (CAAP) and the Davao International Airport authorities for their support, as we worked together for the earliest resumption of airport operations in Davao,” Gokongwei said.

“Again, we would like to sincerely apologize to all those who were affected by the Davao Airport closure,” he added.

With the airport's opening, one of Mindanao's main portals is back in business, drawing traffic to the growing tourism and agri-business sectors in the region. — KBK/HS/LBG, GMA News