Transfer of Turboprop flights to Sangley A Matter of Time

CEBgo to be the Biggest Loser at Sangley Transfer

13 June 2019

The Transportation Department (DOTr) will not be forcing airlines to transfer their turboprop flights to Sangley Airport in Cavite for now.

Transportation Undersecretary for Aviation Manuel Antonio L. Tamayo said the airport is not yet ready to handle commercial traffic at this time but once they are airlines has to move.

"Once the facility is ready to accept domestic flights, then that decision to stay at NAIA might change." said Tamayo.

The passenger terminal building (PTB) at Sangley airport will initially have capacity of 160 passengers per hour on opening date and can serve 2.1 million passengers per annum. It will be expanded later on to accommodate 510 passengers every hour by 2025 equivalent to 5 million passengers per annum.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) management has been ordered by DOTr to cancel slot allocations and landing rights to all general aviation and turbo-propeller flights at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) once Sangley airport opens.

"That is the instruction of the President," said Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal.

Currently, NAIA allows 2 slots every hour for general aviation traffic, and 6 slots for turboprop traffic out of the 40 aircraft traffic movements (ATM) from 6AM to 6PM.

Cebu Pacific subsidiary Cebgo in a statement to DOTr Tuesday said that  they support the governments plan to use the Sangley airport for general aviation and domestic flights.

Cebgo will be the biggest loser of airline slots once Sangley is open to commercial flights as it is the biggest turboprop airline operator at NAIA followed by Airswift, Soriano Aviation and Balesin, all ATR operators.

Among the commercial flights affected are those going to Basco, Busuanga, Balesin, El Nido, Legaspi, Masbate, Naga, and Siargao.

PAL Express which uses the Bombardier turboprops does not use NAIA for its flights but uses Clark as its hub. The airline earlier manifested to be the first operator at the airport when it opens.

DOTr will meet all turboprop airline operators today to fast-track airline operations in Sangley Airport as soon as the facility is ready.

The Transport department also clarified that there will be no replacement flights of the removed general aviation traffic and turboprop flights out of NAIA.

"The intent is to decongest NAIA. There will be no jet replacement flights," adds Monreal.

The clarification was made after AirAsia Philippines chief executive officer Dexter Comendador commented to add international and domestic jet operations in NAIA out of the lost slots.