The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is asking China-based Xiamen Air to pay PHP15 million (more than US$280,925) as the agency’s initial compensation for removing the airline’s plane from the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Xiamen’s plane overshot the airport’s runway on Thursday night, which led to the cancellation of numerous flights. The MIAA finally managed to remove the plane on Saturday morning.
MIAA general manager Ed Monreal said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart on Tuesday that this is just an “initial” estimate of the cost.
“All we spent during the recovery operations will be charged to Xiamen Airlines,” Monreal said. The expenses to be charged includes the rental of the crane that lifted the jet plane from the runway, which alone cost PHP4 million (US$74,918.84).
Monreal stated that the passengers or airlines affected could press charges against the carrier separately as well.
“[T]hat will be entirely [up] to the passengers or the airlines if they want to file a case against Xiamen Airlines. What we will do is [to charge them for the] damage and expenses incurred by the authorities (MIAA), because we do not have any basis for the other consequential damages,” he told ABS-CBN News.
“What we will be charging them for is basically the opportunity that NAIA has lost,” he said, referring to the canceled and delayed flights that stranded thousands of passengers at NAIA. Monreal said they will charge the airline for the revenue lost in terms of landing and takeoff of flights.
The Philippine Star reported that Xiamen Airlines chairman Che Shanglun issued an apology on Monday, saying that the company will cooperate with the MIAA.
On Sunday, Senator Grace Poe said she would file a resolution that would call on the Senate to probe the tarmac mishap. Poe, chair of the senate committee on public services, said that the public deserved “an acceptable explanation.”
“This is important, considering that NAIA remains the primary gateway for foreign tourists into the country,” Poe said in a publicly released statement. “Note, also, that NAIA is operating at overcapacity. It was built to handle some 30 million passengers, but is currently accommodating around 42 million.
“This is not the first time that a plane has skidded off the runway and it certainly won’t be the last. Why did it take two days before operations resumed in NAIA? Couldn’t that be done faster so as not to cause inconvenience to thousands of passengers?”
Poe said that Department of Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade, Monreal, and Xiamen Airlines’ executives are among those that will be summoned to attend the hearing.
The plane’s pilot and the first officer were also barred from leaving the country so they could appear in the Senate’s investigation, according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
