Skyjet Overshoot Busuanga

10 June 2018

A BAE-146-200 jet (RP-C5255) belonging to Skyjet Airlines overshoot runway 08 of Busuanga Airport at 4:30pm Friday when it skidded the runway after landing in bad weather. 

The accident caused Busuanga airport to closed affecting 14 other domestic flights since Friday and was re-opened to the public this morning after the BAE plane was finally remove from the mud in the overun area last night.

Flight M8 713 was piloted by Captain Owen Rosales and Vicente Dela Cruz and came from Manila with 80 passengers and 6 crews. 

The Pilot suffered minor injuries and was brought to the hospital for treatment while the rest of the passengers and crew were unhurt.

Initial investigations from the CAAP AIIB disclosed that it was raining hard when the aircraft landed causing the aircraft to aquaplane despite applied breaks preventing it from gaining traction to stopped at the 1200 meter runway.

The airline was earlier involved in separate runway overshot at Balesin airport in October 19, 2013, and Siargao in February 27, 2018, all in fair weather.  The third one involves bad weather, all with BAE 146 aircraft.

The aircraft grounding has caused the airline to cancel flights to Busuanga and Basco which uses the same plane to service the routes.

Skyjet Overruns Sayak Airport

28 February 2018

A SkyJet Airlines BAe 146-200 (RP-C3855) jet operating under flight #M8421 has overran Sayak Airport runway at 11:25am Tuesday in Siargao after landing causing closure of Sayak Airport and suspension of its subsequent flights.

No injuries were reported and all 74 passengers were accounted safe. The cause of the incident was reported to be birds strike to one of its engines and attempted evasion to hit an eagle bird upon landing. CAAP investigators were immediately dispatched today to conduct investigation of the excursion.

The aircraft was towed back to the airports apron around 3pm. No structural damage was reported to the aircraft.

Sayak airport has 1,300 meter runway sufficient to support STOL operations of BAe 146-200 jet according to the CAAP.

This is the second runway overrun incident for the airline having made its first excursion at Balesin Airport where the aircraft was written-off.

CAAP reopened the airport today per its latest NOTAM.


Pic: Ephraim Domingo

SkyJet Connects Siargao

22 December 2016

After two years wait, Skyjet Airlines (MSJ) has secured regulatory approvals for the much anticipated flight to Siargao Island commencing February 24, 2017 with the use of BAE 146-200 jet.

Flight M8-421 leaves Manila's Terminal 4 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 6am arriving Sayak Airport at 7:10am. Return flight will be at 8:10am arriving Manila at 9:20am.

Parent company Magnum Air recently acquired another BAE 146-200 jet with seating capacity of 112 passengers to service Sayak airport route along with Caticlan, Busuanga, Coron, and Basco. 

Skyjet fleet comprises a pair of BAE146-100 and 1 BAE146-200.

Court Lets Skyjet Fly

Amidst Safety Violations

25 May 2015

The Regional Trial Court of Pasay City has cut short the regulatory authority of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for 20 days after it granted temporary restraining order forbidding the agency to ground Magnum Air, better known as Skyjet.

And that means flight safety is to be determined by the courts as it found the May 18 suspension Order "premature" without prior investigation and examination of the aircraft.

This is the first time in Philippine aviation history that an airline operator questioned the legality of a suspension order from Civil Aviation Authority concerning safety issues.

Skyjet has been found by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to be deficient in eight areas of safety regulations provided under Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations (PCAR) ranging from flight data monitoring, quality control, airworthiness, and maintenance control.

EASA inspected Skyjet's compliance from April 16-24, 2015 as they examined CAA's safety oversight of Philippine carriers.

In the complaint by Skyjet, CAAAP issued a suspension order on May 15 on the basis of intensive investigation conducted by the agency but it cannot present the basis of its investigation to the airline concerned and that its suspension was premature and without basis.

Director General William Hotchkiss III maintained that Skyjet was already notified of their shortcomings last year but failed to rectify the issue and it took EASA audit to blow them out in the open which resulted to the suspension of their Airline Operators Certificate (AOC).

Magnum Air President Dino Reyes Chua stated that the airlines undue grounding by CAAP has caused them irreparable injury and damage by stranding 2,600 affected passengers and lost business opportunity to the tune of 20 million pesos.

Skyjet operates a pair of BAE146-100 planes and D328 for flights to Basco, Caticlan, and Busuanga.

Massive airline complaints is validating the EASA and CAAP findings. Horror stories  can be read here. 

Skyjet Barred From Flying Philippine Airspace

Joins SEAIR International as unfit to fly!

19 May 2015

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has suspended the Air Operator Certificates (AOC) of both SEAIR International Inc. and leisure airline MAGNUM AIR (Skyjet) Inc. Monday May 18 due to some safety concerns which the European Union Assessment Team found after reviewing airline's compliance with safety regulations last month.

Recently, SEAIR was denied entry into South Korea for dubious safety compliance.

Seair mounts flights to and from Manila to Basco, Caticlan and Tablas using D328 aircraft, while Magnum Air (Skyjet) operates to and from Manila to Basco and Busuanga using a pair of BAE 146 jets.

Skyjet Sold

20 March 2015

Full service airline SkyJet (Magnum Air SkyJet, Inc.) is sold to media conglomerate Solar Group after the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) approved the transfer of its ownership to Thunder Air Aviation, Inc., subsidiary of Ronald C. Tieng's Solar empire.

Tieng was elected the airlines Chairman with Dino Carlo Chua as President, Capt. Ted Fojas as Chief operating officer and Atty. Theodore Sarmiento as Corporate Secretary.

Skyjet (M8) flies to Basco, Coron, Busuanga, and Caticlan with a fleet of 1 BAE 146-100 and 1 Dornier 328.

Skyjet Debut to Taipei Went Kaput

22 August 2014

It would have been the airline's first debut overseas, but leisure airline Skyjet of the Philippines butchered its inaugural flight out of Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport to Kalibo International Airport service last week after experiencing technical difficulty with its BAE 146-100

The 5 times a week chartered flight was supposed to take off around 9:50 am with Taiwanese passengers bound for holiday resorts in Boracay island when the aircraft suffered some problems causing misery to passengers as the flight was eventually cancelled.

Replacement aircraft was not made available for the reason that the airline now operate a single BAE 146 only after another BAE plane was written-off due to runway overrun at Balesin Airport.

Skyjet Overshots Balesin Runway

19 October 2013

A  four-engine BAE 146-200 plane (MSN E2031) operated by Skyjet Airlines (RP-C5525) overshot Balesin Runway while attempting to land at Polilio Island's private airport around 11:50 a.m. The chartered plane came from Manila and was carrying 68 passengers and 7 crews when it skidded the runway. No one was reported injured among the passengers and crew.                                                                               photo courtesy by @jackiesese

Busuanga comes to Jet Age

Also Flies Virac April 2 

February 16, 2013

Full service carrier Skyjet Airlines expanded routes to Busuanga Friday after introducing Basco with flights leaving Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 4 at 9:20 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday arriving Busuanga at around 10 a.m. Return flights leave at 11:20 a.m. and arriving in Manila at 12:05 noon time.

Busuanga is the gateway to Coron, the largest island in the Calamian Group in Palawan, where the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary is located.

"With the introduction today of Skyjet Airlines, we enter today's growing leisure travel market on a truly competitive basis, call it boutique or leisure premium airline, a cross between a low-cost carrier and a legacy carrier," said Skyjet CEO Dr. Joel Mendoza.

Skyjet airline offers free snacks with free five kilos on hand carried luggage and 10 kilos for accompanied luggage.

The airlines operates a fleet of two 94-seater, 4-engine BAE 146-200 jets.

BAE 146 jets are designed for short landings and takeoffs, allowing it to use smaller airports in the country.

“We focus on safety," Mendoza said. "Our aircraft can operate in the most challenging runways and weather conditions in the Philippines as certified by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)".

VIRAC FLIGHTS
Starting April 2, 2013 it will mount thrice weekly flights to Virac, Catanduanes every Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays which is the backdoor to Caramoan, the top tourism destination in Camarines Sur.

By June, Mendoza said that they will start accepting charter accommodations from Batanes to Taiwan especially to Kaoshiung, which is only around 150 nautical miles from Batanes, and Orchid Island, where the native people in the area resemble and and even speak the local Ivatan (Batanes) language.

Skyjet test Philippine Skies

As CAB Grants it TOP

August 17, 2012

SkyJet Airlines, of Magnum Air Inc., has been granted Temporary Operating Permit (TOP) on August 3 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to start flying the Philippine Skies on regular scheduled flights.

The airline has pending application for regular flights to Basco in Batanes which remained frozen for lack of necessary permit from CAB and oppositions by Seair. It can however ferry passengers on chartered flights.

Skyjet operates a lone BAe 146-200 RP-C5525 (msn E2031, ex EI-CNQ of Cityjet) under wet lease arrangements with Lionair Subic Philippines. It has options to expand fleet courtesy of Lionair which has two BAE146-200s,  72-seater BAe 146-100 aircraft, and a Dornier 328 jet.

The original flight scheduled to start on April 8 was pushed back to start on the first week of October 2012 to comply flight requirements mandated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

Magnum Air Chief Executive Officer Dr. Joel Mendoza said that they will also fly the plane to Virac in Catanduanes; Catarman, Northern Samar; and Surigao in October.