Three hundred forty-four international and domestic flights have been grounded at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) due to inclement weather caused by typhoon Nina.
As early as 6 a.m. Monday, 270 domestic and 36 international flights of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and AirAsia Zest were cancelled because of bad weather, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Ed Monreal told the Manila Times.
MIAA officials said they would have closed the NAIA runway if the typhoon’s wind speed reached 50 knots per hour. At 10 a.m. on the same day, speed reached 25 knots per hour. Wind speed went down to 10 knots per hour by noon.
By 3 p.m., take-offs and landings resumed. Morning flight schedules of Eva Air, Gulf Air, Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines have been moved to the afternoon. NAIA terminal 3 was reportedly most affected by flight cancellations because majority were passengers of Cebu Pacific, the terminal’s biggest user. As of 2 p.m., Cebu Pacific had cancelled 196 domestic and 12 international flights.
At NAIA terminal 2, PAL cancelled 24 international and 78 domestic flights.
AirAsia Zest cancelled 20 flights, Skyjet cancelled four and Air Swift, six.
China Southern scrapped five flights to Manila and Oman Air cancelled one flight.
Aviation officials on Saturday urged airlines to constantly inform their passengers of the status of the flights, and coordinate with airport authorities on aircraft evacuation.
