TACLOBAN CITY, May 6 (PNA) – The Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport in this city will reopen its runway to jets starting 5 a.m. on Thursday after the 23-day limited operation due to massive repair.
“This is three days ahead of our previously announced target date of May 10, 2015,” said Antonio B. Alfonso, Civil Aviation and Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)Eastern Visayas area manager.
The airport was closed to airbus jets since April 14 for the re-pavement of the 338-meters runway damaged by storm surges in 2013.
The operation of the runway was limited only to 1,440 meters, just enough for the propeller-driven airplanes. There are 14 inbound and 14 outbound flights daily at DZR, the seventh busiest airport in the country.
The temporary closure was met with criticisms from different sectors. Aside from passengers shelling six times more than the regular airfare, businesses were very much affected.
However, Antonio brushed off criticisms as the travelers’ safety is more important.
Aside from business sector complaining of the airport restrictions, Antonio said that the government revenue loses has reached PHP220,000 daily from terminal fees and airline charges or roughly PHP5 million in 23 days.
The initial announcement for the closure was for 16 days from April 15 to 30, but the contractor requested for an extension up to May 10. The contractor cannot be fined, however, because the contract of the repairs of the 338 meters is up to May 30, 2015.
Last year, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) closed the airport for airbus flights due to massive runway repair.
DZR Airport suffered massive destruction after supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) slammed the central Philippines with Tacloban City as ground zero in terms of human lives lost and infrastructure.
The repairs last year were halted twice to accommodate the influx of passengers for the holiday season and the historic Pope Francis visit to Leyte that attracted close to 200,000 visitors last January. (PNA)