MANILA, Aug 18, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) — Philippine airport authorities
reopened on Saturday its main runway of the Manila International Airport
hours after the removal of the badly-damaged Xiamen Air passenger plane that
skidded off the runway on Thursday.
Lin Huagun, Xiamen airlines country manager in the Philippines, said the
Chinese airline will send seven planes to Manila within the day to fetch
nearly 2,000 stranded passengers.
Moreover, he said Xiamen Air will also send a team to Manila to fully
cooperate with the Philippine aviation authorities in the ongoing
investigation of the accident and to assist the stranded passengers.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at various airports across the
country following the cancellation of 135 flights in all three terminals on
Friday as a result of the accident. Several incoming flights were also
diverted to Clark airport, north of Manila, and Cebu in the central
Philippines.
A Xiamen Air flight number MF8667 from Xiamen, China, suffered “runway
excursion” after landing at 11:55 p.m. on Thursday.
The plane then swerved off the runway and onto a grass safety patch a few
meters from the main runway after a “missed approach” due to “heavy
downpour.”
All passengers and crew were declared safe.
It took more almost 36 hours for authorities to remove the plane from the
soggy grassy area where it got stuck, causing the closure of the runway and
the disruption of the operation of the Philippines’ main airport.