DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – This airport will be back in full operations by 4 pm today.
This was the joint announcement made earlier this morning (Wednesday, April 24) by the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
“Clark airport is business as usual, from counters to manifest to boarding gates,” said CIAC president and CEO Jaime Melo.
“Everything is safe. We checked everything, the building and everything and it is now safe for passengers,” he added.
Melo said a “safety net” was installed to the ceiling to protect the passengers in case some debris might still dislodge.
It is now up to the respective airlines to tell their passengers of the resumptions of their flights, he said.
“May we remind the riding public to kindly check or coordinate with their respective airlines for confirmation of their flight schedules via Clark beginning April 24,” Melo said.
Meanwhile, Melo said investigators are now looking into the structure if it followed standard regulations and the contractor who constructed the building six years ago. If it will be determined that the contractor used substandard materials, criminal charges will be filed, he added.
Melo said damage was estimated at P30 million excluding the loss of possible income from the airport’s daily operations which is yet to be evaluated.
This airport was closed after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake destroyed parts of the departure terminal at 5:11 pm on Monday.
The clearing operations and repairs immediately started Tuesday morning inside the pre-departure where a huge portion of its ceiling collapsed.
Melo said power, flight information systems and CCTVs have been fully restored in time for the resumption of flights.
On Tuesday evening, cargo carriers FedEx and UPS already serviced flights via Clark, also an indication of the soundness of the airport’s runway.
