Operations resume as NAIA runway reopens
MANILA, Philippines (Second update, 2:03 p.m.) — The Ninoy Aquino International Airport runway was temporarily closed while airport officials monitored its conditions for planes after a Xiamen Airlines flight slid off the runway late Thursday evening. It reopened past 11 a.m. Saturday.
The temporary closure resulted in several flight delays and cancelations.
The Xiamen Airlines plane, carrying 157 passengers and eight crew, landed on its second attempt before skidding onto the grass and ripping off its left engine late Thursday evening, airport general manager Ed Monreal said.
All on board were safely evacuated from the aircraft with no serious injuries.
But nearly 24 hours after the accident, rescue crews were still unable to remove the plane, forcing the airport to cancel take-offs and landings from the largest of its two runways.
The Manila International Airport Authority early Saturday said that the passenger jet was already removed from the runway and transferred to NAIA's Balabag ramp.
The runway reopened minutes before its 12-noon final extension of the temporary closure.
"A final extension of runway closure until 12 noon today is necessary to give way for the demobilization of heavy equipment used to lift the aircraft. Simultaneously, clearing the runway of debris and other foreign objects will also be done," Monreal said in a statement early Saturday.
The airport general manager apologized for the inconvenience caused by the temporary runway closure to passengers.
Around 165 international and local flights were canceled on Friday and Saturday at the Philippine capital's main airport after the plane's bumpy landing, said airport media officer Connie Bungag.
Moving the plane was complicated by heavy rains that softened the ground, making it difficult to install the two cranes needed to lift the aircraft, officials said.
By noon on Saturday, flights had resumed their normal schedule, but some passengers were not impressed by the speed of the recovery operation.
"At last," tweeted one disgruntled observer. "That's a record 36 hours."
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said investigators had recovered the plane's black box and flight data recorder and would be summoning the pilots next week to find the cause of the mishap.
The airport will schedule special flights after midnight to make up for some of the flights that were canceled earlier, Bungag said. — with report from AFP
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