Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade apologized to all passengers and overseas Filipino workers who have been affected by the 2-day runway closure at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The said fiasco left thousands of passengers stranded inside the airport after several flights got cancelled.
During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Tugade said that they tried their best to remove the Xiamen Air Boeing 737 which skidded on the runway of NAIA. However, the bad weather made it more difficult for them to remove the stalled aircraft.
“I am deeply sorry for the inconveniences caused by the incident. I apologize to all our kababayans who were looking forward to a fun holiday. I apologize to our OFWs who missed their flights,” ABS-CBN quoted Sec. Tugade as saying.
Due to the incident, many overseas Filipino workers even feared of losing their employment because they were not able to board their flights.
“We are not here to justify what happened. We are here to say that these things do happen. It was an accident no one wanted and we responded as fast as we could. We tried to minimize the inconveniences the way we could,” he said.
Tugade also said that the incident served as a lesson that pushed them to improve airport services.
Xiamen Airlines has also offered their “sincerest apologies” for the accident.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also encouraged OFWs who got stranded because of the runway closure to claim financial aid worth P5,000.
As of August 24, DFA reported that a total 962 OFWs have already benefited from the financial aid offered by the Philippine government.
The government agency said that they released P4.8 million to provide financial assistance to OFWs who got stranded at NAIA following a runway mishap.
