Possible Cebu Pacific suspension needs PNoy OK; Davao airport resumes ops

(Updated 5:46 a.m., 5 June 2013) Top officials of the country's civil aviation regulator said Tuesday that President Benigno Aquino III might ultimately decide on the fate of Cebu Pacific Air if the probe on the landing incident at the Davao International Airport results in a recommendation to suspend the airline's franchise.

 

Civil Aviation Authority of the Phillippines deputy director general John C. Andrews said in a news conference, “with the results that we have now, this may justify a suspension.” Captain Andrews has supervision over the CAAP's Aircraft Accident and Inquiry Investigation Board.

 

CAAP director general William K. Hotchkiss said in a report on GMA News' Saksi newscast, that they well aware of the impact a suspension of Cebu Pacific may have on the economy. 

 

“We are weighing that [franchise suspension] as one of the options... we are talking now of the implications to the national economy, it will have to be the President that will have to decide this,” said Hotchkiss, a retired commanding general of the Philippine Air Force.

 

From January to March this year, Cebu Pacific said it served 3.25 million passengers. Some 2.52 million were domestic passengers while 733,127 were international travellers. 

 

The airline also said it carried 23 million kilograms of cargo. Cebu Pacific added that it operated a fleet of 43 aircraft in the first three months of 2013.

Cebu Pacific flies to 34 domestic and 22 international destinations on over 90 routes. It operates out of six hubs including the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3; Mactan-Cebu International Airport; Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark; Davao International Airport;Iloilo International Airport; and Kalibo International Airport in Aklan.




 

Pilot error

Normal operations at the Davao airport resumed at 8:00 p.m Tuesday after the airplane was removed from the runway.
 

Captain Andrews said pilot error seems to be the root cause of the accident that befell Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 971 from Manila to Davao which was unable to make a normal runway landing Sunday evening during a downpour and instead touched down on grassy soil and stopped nose down 1.2 kilometers later.

“If you do not see the runway, you may initiate what we call a go-around or a missed approach even if you are 500 feet or 100 feet from touchdown, you can still initiate a go-around,” Andrews said.

 

The CAAP official also noted that after the plane skidded off the runway, it took Cebu Pacific at least 15 minutes before they were able to evacuate the passengers from the plane.

Alleged crew failures, airline's defense
 

Harsher words came from a letter written by Ateneo de Davao University president Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ who based his comments on reports he received from the flight's passengers.

 

"The Cebu Pacific personnel failed to give humane assistance to the passengers. No instructions were given; no calming words spoken. Instead a pilot of another airline undertook to calm the passengers. It was only after 27 minutes in a smoked cabin that the passengers were allowed to leave the plane by coming down emergency slides," Tabora said.

The Jesuit priest did not mince his words. "I am incensed not because there was a mechanical failure last night, but because of Cebu Pacific's manifest human failure. Where was your concern for the passengers? Your personnel lack training for an emergency situation. They froze. They did not know what to do. They must be able to put the welfare of the passengers before their own. And they must be trained to do so," he added.

 

"What if the engine had exploded? What if someone had choked due to the smoke? What if there was an emergency medical situation on the plane in those 27 minutes? I am also told that once the passengers were finally in the airport, no one came to talk to them until after one and a half hours!" Tabora also said. 

 

Cebu Pacific spokesperson Candice Iyog said in an interview that the flight's crew followed procedure and were able to “safely disembark” the passengers.

 

“The pilot and our crew followed procedure and they assessed the situation outside. Nakita naman nila na wala namang imminent danger. Hindi naman nasusunog 'yung engine natin. Hindi isinagawa yung emergency evacuation dahil hindi naman siya kailangan.”


 

 

However, at least one passenger on the flight, Nino Alinsub, said through his Facebook account that “smoke inside the cabin was enough to stir panic among the passengers reeling to get out of the plane.”

 

“Yet we were instructed by the cabin crew to stay put, as they would wait for further instructions from the captain,” Alinsub added.  

Meanwhile, a report aired on GMA News' "Saksi" said passengers of the Cebu Pacific flight that overshot the Davao airport runway have banded together to form the “Victims 5J 971” group, and they have decided to file a class suit against Cebu Pacific. — DVM/ELR, GMA News