”A regulation to remove all turboprop planes by the first quarter of this year”
The Philippine Aviation has set a policy to move out all turbo planes by the end of the first quarter of the year. For approximately 900 thousand passengers of low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, flights to reach small towns that are reachable only by turboprops will soon have to take in Clark just to reach the city or town. The Department of Transportation together with The Manila Slot Coordination Committee, is ordering the removal of all turboprops in NAIA to maximize their single runway for larger aircraft. When lining up for planes that are going to land, air traffic controllers will have to allocate a wider spacing for smaller and slower-flying turboprops compared to large and faster jets.
Cebgo is an all-turboprop unit of Cebu Pacific, currently, Cebgo has 15 ATR 72-600 units on its fleet, ATR 72-600 were used to ferry passengers to island destinations, and approximately 2 million passengers flew and almost 37,000 flights last year.
The policy mandated that all airline turboprops including Cebu Pacific, on March 30, the regulation required 30% of turboprops that operate in the airport be transferred from the secondary airports, Clark Airport, and other airports, and then by October 26, airlines will have to remove their turboprops in NAIA.
Currently, Cebgo with an operation airline code “DG” flies out of NAIA Terminal 2 to reach:
- Busuanga
- Caticlan
- Cebu
- Legaspi
- Masbate
- Naga
- San Jose
- Siargao
- Surigao
But, by March 30, the airline is transferring their Masbate and Siargao bound flights to Clark International Airport, in compliance with the policy, the single flight frequency to Masbate is still retained, and Cebu Pacific limits their flight bound for Siargao schedules into two once they are transferred in Clark.
According to the low-cost carrier, “Cebu Pacific recognizes the importance of managing airport capacity effectively, which should lead to improved passenger experience and greater public convenience,” also the airline reminds the affected passengers by the changes that they can avail themselves free rebooking and refunds for their flights.
