CAAP finishes Tacloban airport repair

TACLOBAN CITY — The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will lift the shortened flight schedules at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport within this week after it completed the repairs being done on the runway two months ahead of schedule.

Danilo Abareta, CAAP Area VIII manager, said the asphalt overlay on the runway was completed on Sunday while the calibration precision approach light indicator was finished Monday evening, 3 June.

“We hope to lift the Notice the Airmen (NOTAM) tomorrow,” Abareta said during the ‘Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas’ on Tuesday, 4 June.

“If we can file the NOTAM by tomorrow, then we can go back to our regular schedule which starts from 4:30 in the morning until 8:30 in the evening. We will no longer wait for August,” Abareta said.

CAAP Area VIII issued NOTAM on 24 April 2024 limiting the operational hours of DZR Airport to 12 hours — from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. —starting 2 May to 2 August this year.

The shortened operational hours affected a total of 12 flights to and from Manila daily, operated by three airlines — Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines.