FLIGHTS SUSPENDED. All aircraft operations at the Iloilo International Airport are suspended from March 18 to April 14, 2020, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on Monday (Mar. 16, 2020). The suspension is in line with the executive order of Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. placing the province under general community quarantine in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. (PNA file photo by Gail Momblan)
ILOILO CITY – All flights at the Iloilo International Airport in Cabatuan town are suspended from March 18 to April 14 to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has announced.
The memorandum signed by Manuela Luisa Palma, acting airport manager, on Monday has restricted the travel of persons into the province of Iloilo within the said period.
The travel restriction exempts health workers responding to an emergency; members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and all the branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); persons traveling for urgent humanitarian reasons; and persons traveling into the province on common carriers and transport for the conduct of trade, deliver of social or humanitarian services, fishing marine activities, scientific or academic pursuits, and such other essential purposes.
In a phone interview, Art Pareño, CAAP-Iloilo terminal supervisor, appealed for understanding. “Everybody has to comply. We all have to do our share,” he said.
The suspension has followed the executive order of Iloilo Governor Arthur Defenso, Jr. placing the province under general community quarantine, lawyer Suzette Mamon, Iloilo provincial administrator said in an interview.
Mamon has met with common carriers, including airline companies such as Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Air Asia; bus lines; shipping companies and passenger vessels.
“Part of the meeting is we appealed those in the transport sector to support the Iloilo in the implementation to manage the levels of the incoming residents here in the province,” she said.
Servicing an average of 56 inbound and outbound domestic and international flights, the suspension is expected to affect around 60 employees of the CAAP and the airline companies. (PNA)
