By Denise A. Valdez
The government said on Wednesday it will charge XiamenAir an estimated P33 million, for expenses accumulated following a runway closure at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Aug. 17 after a mishap involving a XiamenAir passenger jet.
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed V. Monreal said in a Senate hearing on Wednesday that his agency’s updated estimate of the costs has increased from an initial P15 million to P33 million.
He told reporters after the hearing that the new estimate covers the rental of the crane used to extract the aircraft, opportunity lost from the shutdown and payment for overtime labor of airport staff, among others.
“Marami pa kasing incidental cases, expenses na nakuha namin na kailangan. Yung other equipment, yung consequence. Basta marami. Rental nung… Take off and landing losses, yung counters [There are lots of incidental cases, expenses that we saw that we need to charge to them. The other equipment, the consequence. There really are many. Rental of the crane, take off and landing losses, the counters],” he said.
Mr. Monreal earlier said the estimated cost for the recovery operations after the XiamenAir incident was around P15 million, but he said this amount only covers the rental for all the equipment used to extract the aircraft.
“Yung P15 million is basically rental of equipment. Yung iba dun yung opportunity loss in terms of parking, second counter…. Maraming bagay. Pati staff, overtime, lahat [The P15 million is basically for the rental of equipment. The rest are opportunity loss in terms of parking, second counter…. Many things. Even the staff, overtime, everything],” he noted.
On the night of Aug. 16, a XiamenAir aircraft swept past Runway 06/24 while trying to land. There were no casualties, but the incident caused a 36-hour shutdown of operations, with thousands of passengers stranded at the airport.
Philippine Airlines said in the same hearing it recorded 48,050 flight cancellations and delays due to the mishap. It said the incident cost the company more than P15 million.
Cebu Pacific said 161 of its flights were cancelled, affecting around 31,000 passengers from more than 23,000 domestic flights and more than 7,600 international flights.
Senator Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services which conducted Wednesday’s hearing, said Mr. Monreal and his team failed to attend to their responsibility to the passengers.
“Talagang mayroon silang malaking kakulangan…. Malinaw na lahat sila ay nakatutok doon sa pagtatanggal ng eroplano na nakalimutan na nilang tutukan ang mga pasahero na kailangang sumakay pa o kaya kung paano sila bibigyan ng tulong habang nag-iintay [They indeed have neglected some of their responsibilities. It’s clear they were too focused on extracting the aircraft that they forgot to pay attention to the passengers who needed to board or those who needed their assistance while on queue],” she told reporters after the hearing.
Ms. Poe added, “Tingnan mo, sa kanila manggagaling kung magkakaroon ng gate changes, kung ano ang mga papasok na mga flights, pero hindi nila yata naaabisuhan ng tama ang mga airlines, at ang mga airlines naman, kung naabisuhan, hindi rin naman nila naipaalam sa kanilang mga pasahero. Lahat talaga ay nagkaroon ng breakdown ng communication [Announcements on gate changes should come from them, which flights are pushing through, but it seems they weren’t able to alert the airlines properly. Now on the end of the airlines, if they were advised, they failed to inform the passengers. Everything led to a breakdown in communication].”
“Pasensiya na pero talagang pumalpak ang management ng airport dito [My apologies but the airport management really failed on this one],” the senator said.

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