MANILA, Philippines — Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Thursday told the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and other airport officials to strongly consider resuming commercial airport operations in areas downgraded to a general community quarantine.
Related Stories
“The reopening of airports in GCQ areas to commercial aviation will gradually jump-start airline operations now hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will plant the seeds for domestic tourism. This should seriously be considered,” the Transport secretary said in a Saturday department release.
During the Thursday virtual meeting with the Transport department's Air Sector, CAAP Director-General Capt. Jim Sydiongco told Tugade that airlines can continue domestic operations by using an "existing and established air route network within the Visayas and Mindanao."
“Some airlines are readily capable of mounting inter-island flights to serve communities from one GCQ area to another GCQ area using the inter Visayas and/or Inter Mindanao air routes,” Sydiongco said in the release.
The proposed solution is to use regional airports as an alternative hub for air carriers since high-traffic hubs like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport are all in areas under lockdown and consequently closed for commercial operations.
Tugade said that commercial airlines can instead utilize regional airports like those in Puerto Princesa, Zamboanga, General Santos and other locations “subject to their aircraft compatibility and configuration.”
“We want to operationalize this approach before the end of next week, but of course without compromising health and safety protocols set by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) and the Department of Health,” the Transport chief said.
“Pag-iisipan namin kung paano ito maisasagawa ng maayos at mabilis (We will deliberate how to effectively and quickly implement this).”