DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 April)—The city government here calls out the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to improve services and facilities at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport, more popularly known as the Davao International Airport (DIA), following a temporary closure of the runway over the weekend for repairs.
The Francisco Bangaoy International Airport in Davao City. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
In a statement released Wednesday evening, the city government said it constantly receives recurring complaints from Dabawenyos and visitors regarding the current condition of the facilities within the international airport.
“The local government has constantly raised these concerns to the [CAAP]-11, which is the agency mandated to manage the Davao International Airport, yet we see no significant improvement until today,” the city government said in a statement.
The statement also read that CAAP “must not fall short in delivering its mandate to maintain our airports.”
On Saturday, April 13, CAAP temporarily closed DIA’s runway from 12 midnight to 4 a.m.to accommodate asphalt overlay repairs.
This caused the cancellation of five Manila-Davao flights that day, according to FlightRadar24.com data.
The CAAP then released another notice to continue repairing and closing the runway from 12:00 midnight to 4 a.
m. for similar reasons, the aviation blog Aviation Updates Philippines reported.
With the adjustments, the Philippine Airlines temporarily changed their time of departure (ETD) and arrival (ETA) of their flights until June 1:
PR 2821 Manila-Davao
ETD: From 10:15 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
ETA: From 12:05 a.m. to 11:35 p.m.
PR2822 Davao-Manila
ETD: From 3:20 a.m. to 4 a.m.
ETA: From 5:10 a.m. to 5:45 a.m.
PR2807 Manila-Davao
ETD: From 11:15 p.m. to 2:20 a.m.
ETA: From 1:05 a.m. to 4:10 a.m.
PR2808 Davao-Manila
ETD: From 2:10 a.m. to 4:50 a.m.
ETA: From 4 a.m. to 6:40 a.m.
AirAsia Philippines and Cebu Pacific, meanwhile, have yet to release adjustments of flight schedules.
The Davao International Airport Authority (DIAA) was supposed to be established this year, but no updates have been released.
Under Republic Act No. 11457, the creation of DIAA was an approved law back in 2019, aimed to “undertake the economical, efficient, and effective control” of the airport. It also mandates the supposed body to upgrade airport facilities and formulate “internationally-accepted standards” of the airport’s service and accommodation. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
