SEVERAL flights to and from Cebu on Jan. 15 and 19 were cancelled due to the limited operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) during the arrival and departure of Pope Francis.
Affected flights are those of Cebu Pacific (CEB), Philippine Airlines (PAL) and TigerAir Philippines on Jan. 15, 17 and 19. AirAsia also announced on its Facebook page yesterday afternoon that it canceled domestic and international flights to and from Manila, Cebu and Tacloban on the same dates.
Estee Marie Plunket, corporate affairs head of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), said that they were notified of the flight cancellations at certain hours on the same dates, when Manila becomes a no-fly zone as part of security measures during the papal visit to the Philippines.
GMCAC, the private firm that manages the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, advised passengers with confirmed bookings on the affected flights to rebook their flights as soon as possible, especially those with important business appointments and those attending the Sinulog activities.
“If you’re flying on those days, call your airline and rebook your flights as early as possible,” Plunket said, adding that a lot of passengers coming to Cebu for the Sinulog would be affected.
In an advisory posted on its website, CEB said it is cancelling the flights after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced limited operations in the NAIA on Jan. 15 (from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.), Jan. 17 (7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and from 5:45
p.m. to 6:45 p.m.) and Jan. 19 (6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.)
Canceled Manila-Cebu-Manila flights of CEB on Jan. 15 are 5J573/566, 5J569/570 and 5J571/572. It also cancelled its Cebu–Caticlan–Cebu (5J140/141) flight. On Jan. 19, CEB’s cancelled Manila-Cebu-Manila flights are 5J561/554, 5J553/562 and 5J563/564. The Ceb–Caticlan–Cebu (5J134/135) on the same day was also cancelled.
TigerAir also cancelled its Manila–Cebu–Manila (DG7804/7805) flight on Jan. 15 and the Manila–Cebu-Manila (DG7002/7003) flight on Jan. 19.
PAL’s cancelled flights on Jan. 15 are: Cebu-Manila (PR2860), Manila-Cebu-Manila (PR2861/2862) and Manila-Cebu (PR2863). The Manila-Cebu-Manila (PR2841/2842), Cebu-Manila (PR2846) and Manila-Cebu (PR2849) flights on Jan. 19 are also cancelled.
PAL cancelled a total of 71 international and domestic flights.
AirAsia canceled 14 flights on Jan. 15; six on Jan. 17; and four on Jan. 19.