ILOILO – The Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan town now has physical distancing markers and has designated hand-washing and decontamination areas as part of the preparations for its reopening.
When will its operation resume?
“There are no commercial flights up to now. It is still to be resolved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF),” said Art Parreño, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Iloilo terminal supervisor.
As such, he said, the Iloilo Airport will remain closed until June 10, unless the order will earlier be revoked by higher authorities.
Commercial flights to and from Iloilo were suspended in March this year when the community quarantine was enforced to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
When commercial flights finally resume, Parreño said, people should expect airlines to reduce their passenger flight capacity so as to ensure physical distancing in airplanes, and even the frequency of flights.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Iloilo Airport served around 25 arrival and departure flights daily, said Parreño.
Classified as an international airport, the Iloilo Airport is the first airport in both Western Visayas and the island of Panay to be built to international standards. It is also considered to be the primary gateway into the region.
The airport opened to commercial traffic on June 14, 2007 with then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurating it.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Action Plan on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), confirmed that eight airports in the country will start their operations within the week.
In a meeting with the Western Visayas Regional Task Force here on June 2, Galvez said inter-zonal movement is allowed under the modified general community quarantine.
CAAP and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has consulted the local government units (LGUs) on opening the airports.
“The LGUs na nagsabing pwede are Romblon, Legazpi, Naga, NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), Clark, Cauyan, Palanan and Marinduque,” Galvez said.
“Just in case na mayroon na bookings, pwede na po,” he added.
He also said negotiations are ongoing in the LGUs of Dipolog, Pagadian, Laguindingan, Ozamis, Camiguin, and General Santos City.
“The negotiations are ongoing because as we said, there will be strict implementation of protocols. There will be a one-stop shop where swabbing and testing will be done at the airport,” he said in Pilipino.
Galvez said other local government units that want to ensure the prevention of virus importation still have to observe the situation before opening their gateways in mid-June.
Galvez noted that allowing inter-zonal movement will be of help to the economy as it opens trading to Manila and other regions in the country.
But allowing of airport operations does not mean allowing free movement of people, he said.
“May health restrictions. Need may certificate sa travel, as much as possible makapag-test na,” he said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN
