Cebu Pacific resumes Ormoc flights

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Pacific Air yesterday resumed its flights to and from Ormoc City in Leyte.

In a statement on its website, the budget carrier said it reopened the daily flights after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) completed its inspection and risk assessment of the Ormoc Airport, including the runway and passenger terminal building following the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that jolted Leyte last week.

“Cebu Pacific extends its thanks to CAAP for the expedient action to get the Ormoc Airport back to operational status as soon as possible,” the air carrier said.

Its subsidiary Cebgo offers daily flights between Cebu and Ormoc cities, departing from Cebu at 6:35 a.m. and departing Ormoc for its return flight at 7:40 a.m.

“Passengers booked on cancelled Cebgo flights between Cebu and Ormoc from July 6 to 13 may rebook their flights free of charge,” the budget airline said.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) earlier announced that, “the painting of displaced threshold markings to warn aircrafts of the damaged portions of the runway was also completed.”

Operations of the Ormoc Airport resumed on July 8 after CAAP issued its Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to open the airport to commercial operations.

Last March 11, Cebgo also resumed its flights to and from Surigao City, about a month after suspending operations due to the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck on Feb. 10 damaging 1,700 meters of the Surigao Airport runway.

Cebgo operates two daily flights to Surigao via Cebu with the first flight departing at 10:25 a.m. and the second at 01:35 p.m.

Cebu Pacific flies to 37 domestic and 26 international destinations, with over 104 routes spanning Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and USA. It operates flights out of six strategically placed hubs in the Philippines: Clark, Davao, Kalibo, Cebu, Iloilo and Manila.