(SWEET. Partaking of the ceremonial cake at PAA’s Clark-Taipei inaugural flight are PAA CEO Capt. Dexter Comendador, TECO deputy represengtative James Chu, CIAC president Alex Cauguiran, PAA chair Maan Hontiveros and DOT-3 director Carol Uy.)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – “Smooth as silk” was how some passengers described the landing here of the first international flight of Philippines AirAsia (PAA) from the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga, some 80 kilometers from Manila.
Despite the turbulence, the passengers were relaxed and confident during the one-hourand- 45-minute flight because piloting the Airbus A320 was the first flying CEO of an airline in the Philippines, Capt. Dexter Comendador who later said the turbulence was caused by the tail end of the storm after the flight caught up with it as it neared Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
“I have to avoid a lot of cloud formations,” Comendador said, explaining that cloud formations are classified into four colors – green, yellow and red – signifying their intensity and the color violet as the most intense and should be avoided at all cost. PAA flight Z2 5126 with pilot in command Comendador left CIA at 5:25 p.m. and arrived in Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport at 7:30 p.m. All 180 passengers were relaxed and excited as the plane was accorded the honor of a “water cannon salute” upon landing.
Passengers were each given a garland as they emerged from the tube where airport personnel, including the uniformed toilet cleaners, clapped their hands and bowed their heads at the arriving passengers.
Prior to departure, Comendador said: “Our return to international skies via Clark hub reaffirms our commitment to travelers in Central and Northern Luzon and Metro Manila who truly deserve nothing but only the best quality service, affordable airfare and efficient connectivity.”
“It feels so good to be back where we started. From two planes in Clark in 2012 to 20 jets as of today and we expect our fleet to grow to 70 planes in the next 10 years,” Comendador said.
Trailblazer
Comendador, who was travelling with his wife Loida and daughter Gabrielle, was a trailblazer and a highly-decorated pilot. He has over 33 years of experience in the aviation industry, serving as combat pilot, flight commander of the elite 15th Strike Wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and pilot instructor before beginning his professional career as a commercial pilot in 1992.
In 1994, Comendador was flight systems engineer onboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 piloted by Capt. Eduardo Reyes and First Officer Jaime Herrera to Narita, Japan when they smelled smoke coming from the cabin at 32,000 feet. A bomb had just exploded inside the cabin killing 24-year-old Japanese passenger Haruki Ikegami and wounding two others.
News of the incident said the blast destroyed all turning mechanism of the plane and the plane’s navigation system making it difficult to turn the plane back to Naha, Okinawa where they were vectored in by a US military personnel from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.
But Reyes, Comendador and Herrera remained focused on landing the plane safely.
TECO
To celebrate the airline’s Clark – Taipei route, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office officers and Philippine government officials led by Clark International Airport Corp. president Alexander Cauguiran, TECO deputy representative minister James Chu, DOT-3 regional director Carol Uy and Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. chairman emeritus Levy P. Laus joined the send-off ceremonies at the airport with PAA chairperson Maan Hontiveros.
Aside from Clark – Taipei route, AirAsia also flies to domestic destinations of Iloilo, Caticlan, Davao, Cebu and Tacloban from Clark.
