Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte appealed to President Marcos and newly installed Transportation Secretary Vivencio Dizon to set aside a plan to transfer commercial turboprop aircraft operations from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga until such time that the government can undertake the long-delayed expansion of runways of regional airports to accommodate bigger planes.
Villafuerte also said phasing out propeller-driven small planes would severely hurt domestic tourism and inconvenience air travelers and tourists going to and from the affected regions
He pointed out that turboprop aircraft Bombardiers and ATRs are being used by the budget carriers of leading airlines Cebu Pacific Air (CebuPac) and Philippine Airlines (PAL) for commercial flights in secondary airports such the one in Naga City.
“We are making this appeal to President Marcos and Secretary Vince of the DOTr (Department of Transportation) to hold in abeyance this move by the MSCC (Manila Slot Coordinating Committee) to decongest the NAIA by gradually moving out all commercial turboprop operations from the country’s premier gateway to the Clark Airport in Pampanga,” Villafuerte said.
“It is our hope that this MSCC decision on the gradual transfer of all turboprop operations from the NAIA to the CIA in Pampanga will be put on the back burner until such time that the DOTr can carry out the long-planned expansion of the runways at the Naga airport and other secondary airfields nationwide so they can accommodate bigger aircraft like the Airbus 300 jets in place of the would-be banned turboprops,” Villafuerte added.
According to him, the airport upgrades must be implemented as soon as possible so that secondary airfields can accommodate bigger aircraft or jets, citing as example the Naga Airport.
He said the transfer plan will mean that travelers and tourists have to go to Clark, which is 80 kilometers north of Manila for their flight to Naga City. The other option is to travel by land for the 380-km trip from Manila to Bicol that will take more than 10 hours.
Given the leadership change at the DOTr, Villafuerte expressed the hope that Dizon would suspend the MSCC decision pending a review of the phase-out of turboprop operations at the NAIA and the expansion of the Naga Airport runway, enabling it to accommodate jets or airplanes.
The MSCC is composed of the Transportation Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports, the chiefs of the Manila International Airport Authority, the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and the New NAIA Infra Corp. general manager.