Passengers of grounded Zest Air stranded at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - More than 200 passengers of low budget airlines Zest Airways await departure at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 4 on Saturday not knowing the carrier has been grounded indefinitely.

Airport Police Department Cpl. Orlando Hamtig said that the passengers were still hoping that the airline would be able to reschedule flights even after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) suspended its entire fleet on Friday afternoon.

Hamtig said that the air company transported some of its stranded passengers to neighboring casino resort Resorts World Manila or to the NAIA Terminal 2 for to transfer the booking to another airlines.

CAAP acting director John Andrews has said that Zest Air, the Philippine brand of aviation giant AirAsia, violated several safety regulations including its lack of a qualified account managers.

“In the course of this monitoring, this agency is alarmed of ZestAir’s series of serious deviations and infractions of the rules and standards prescribed under PCAR,” Andrews said.

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