CLARK FREEPORT – “Where are the planes of the Spirit of Manila? Their only passenger plane at Clark looks so old.”
Thus said traders here as they questioned the “air worthiness” of the 172-seater plane to be used by the Spirit of Manila airline (SMA) in its upcoming international flights at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.
The traders alleged that SMA would use a Mc-Donnell Douglas MD-83 plane reportedly built in 1983. According to the website of the Boeing (which merged with Mc-Donnel Douglas in 1997), the MD-80s series planes, including MD-83, were built starting in 1980.
“Safety is paramount. Besides, their plane was just painted to make it look presentable but is still old,” said the traders in an interview on Tuesday.
Larry Pena, supervisor of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) operation control center, disclosed that a test flight was done for the SMA’s MD-83 last September 21. He added that he was not able to join the test flight despite being invited because it was a holiday on that day and he didn’t report for work.
Pena disclosed that as a requirement, a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), would join the test flight and decide if they could be use for commercial purposes.
“As long as Spirit of Manila or other airlines have the necessary government permits, they could be allowed to fly and do business at airports,” said Pena. He added that the CIAC has yet to be informed by CAAP if the SMA plane passed the test.
The CIAC public relations office disclosed that the SMA officials recently wrote a letter to CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano and informed him that they had acquired the necessary government permits and would start commercial operations with international destinations by mid-November.
The SMA flights would be in Bahrain, Macau, Taiwan and Kuwait.
Pena said the SMA “would probably use the MD-83 for shorter flights and not for Bahrain which takes about 9 hours.”
The traders, for their part, said “the SMA announced major flights in four destinations by next month but they have yet to show their planes at Clark.”
“They can’t use this old MD-83 for long flights, especially to Bahrain,” they added.
Punto and some mediamen visited the office of the SMA to interview their officials but were informed by security guards that no one was in their offices and they were all in Manila.
Thus said traders here as they questioned the “air worthiness” of the 172-seater plane to be used by the Spirit of Manila airline (SMA) in its upcoming international flights at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.
The traders alleged that SMA would use a Mc-Donnell Douglas MD-83 plane reportedly built in 1983. According to the website of the Boeing (which merged with Mc-Donnel Douglas in 1997), the MD-80s series planes, including MD-83, were built starting in 1980.
“Safety is paramount. Besides, their plane was just painted to make it look presentable but is still old,” said the traders in an interview on Tuesday.
Larry Pena, supervisor of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) operation control center, disclosed that a test flight was done for the SMA’s MD-83 last September 21. He added that he was not able to join the test flight despite being invited because it was a holiday on that day and he didn’t report for work.
Pena disclosed that as a requirement, a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), would join the test flight and decide if they could be use for commercial purposes.
“As long as Spirit of Manila or other airlines have the necessary government permits, they could be allowed to fly and do business at airports,” said Pena. He added that the CIAC has yet to be informed by CAAP if the SMA plane passed the test.
The CIAC public relations office disclosed that the SMA officials recently wrote a letter to CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano and informed him that they had acquired the necessary government permits and would start commercial operations with international destinations by mid-November.
The SMA flights would be in Bahrain, Macau, Taiwan and Kuwait.
Pena said the SMA “would probably use the MD-83 for shorter flights and not for Bahrain which takes about 9 hours.”
The traders, for their part, said “the SMA announced major flights in four destinations by next month but they have yet to show their planes at Clark.”
“They can’t use this old MD-83 for long flights, especially to Bahrain,” they added.
Punto and some mediamen visited the office of the SMA to interview their officials but were informed by security guards that no one was in their offices and they were all in Manila.
