Adds with Cathay Pacific plane allowed to leave

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has started accepting flights into Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 4:55 pm Sunday nearly seven hours after no planes were allowed to land or take off due to technical issues of the Air Traffic Management Center.

CAAP said the first plane allowed to land was Philippine Airlines PR222 from Brisbane, Australia. It landed at Bay 36 of NAIA Terminal 2.

At 5:33 pm, a Cathay Pacific plane was allowed to leave NAIA Terminal 3. CX930 was bound for Hong Kong.

Around 56,000 passengers were stranded at the four terminals of NAIA after a total of 282 flights were delayed, cancelled or diverted to other regional airports.

Among international flights affected were Japan Airlines’ Narita-Manila-Narita flight JL 741/742, Cebu Pacific’s (5J922/5J923) Manila-Fukuoka-Manila,  (5J828/5J827) Manila-Osaka-Manila and (5J5056/5057) Manila-Narita-Manila and Philippine Airlines’ (PR432) Manila-Narita and (PR408) Manila-Osaka.

”This is a developing situation,” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna in an interview with dzBB, adding that ”the plan is to have partial restoration of flights.”

The Manila International Airport Authority and the Airline Operators Council are working on a recovery schedule of flights that were cancelled, the Department of Transportation said.

Ground crew of airline companies and airport authorities were seen handing food and beverage to its passengers who have assembled at the four terminals of NAIA.

”Lots of people are inside the airport, hoping there will be flights today,” said Villaluna. DMS