AirAsia moving to NAIA 4

MANILA, Philippines - AirAsia Inc. Philippines is moving to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 4 after announcing it is ending its domestic and international flights at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.

AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said in his Twitter account @tonyfernandes that AirAsia Philippines is moving to NAIA 4 formerly known as Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal.

Fernandes said the suspension of domestic and international flights of AirAsia Philippines in Clark is only temporary.

“Clark routes will be temporarily suspended. We will be going back to Clark,” he clarified.

On Thursday, AirAsia Philippines chief executive officer Marianne Hontiveros told The STAR that the low cost carrier is temporarily suspending two domestic and two international flights from Clark after its affiliate Zest Airways Inc. suffered heavy losses arising from the suspension of its operations.

Hontiveros said that Clark-Kalibo as well as Clark-Davao flights would end on Oct. 8 while Clark-Taipei and Clark-Hong Kong flights would end on Nov. 6. The Clark-Hong Kong flights would resume on Dec. 20 in time for the Christmas season.

According to her, the decision to wind down domestic and international flights was reached during the meeting of the Board of Directors of AirAsia Philippines last Tuesday.

“The directive to me by the board is to cut further losses. The direct losses arising from the suspension of the operations of ZestAir which is very sizeable,” Hontiveros stressed.

Last Aug. 16, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) issued an order grounding the fleet of ZestAir due to six aviation safety concerns in violation of the Philippine Civil Aviation Regulation (PCAR). The suspension of the Airline Operators Certificate (AOC) was lifted the CAAP on Aug. 20 after the low cost carrier complied with all safety requirement.

Hontiveros said ZestAir suffered sizeable losses as the airline paid for the tickets of affected passengers in other airlines that are more expensive as well as hotel accommodations.