AS if the New Year's Day country-wide airport "glitch" was not enough, the sad state of Philippine airports was again exhibited on Monday at the Lio Airport in El Nido, Palawan. An inbound AirSWIFT flight experienced tire failure upon landing in the regional airport (ENI) on January 9. The busted tire scraped and got stuck in the airport's runway pavement. The accident resulted in the temporary closure of the obstructed runway.
However, instead of immediately towing the disabled aircraft away from the runway, Lio Airport authorities decided to put everything on hold and wait for the arrival of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) officials, who were all coming from Manila. Airport ground personnel said they would have to wait for the CAAP officials to conduct their investigation before they could remove the AirSWIFT airplane and patch the runway pavement. Estimated date for the full reopening of the runway was set not later than January 14 — or a span of five long days.
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