With its opening of Manila-Borongan flight
BORONGAN CITY – 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino ‘Nonoy’ Libanan, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, said that he had a meeting with Sec. Jaime Bautista of the Department of Transportation to allocate funds for the improvement of the Borongan Airport.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Libanan made this disclosure during the inaugural flight of Manila-via Cebu-Borongan flights on December 19.
According to the party-list solon, who once served as Eastern Samar congressional representative, there is still much to be done at the airport for it to accommodate bigger commercial planes and for the safety and comforts of the passengers.
“We have just created a bridge in the sky which is what we need today. We need to fortify and strengthen this bridge,” Libanan said during the short program after the PAL plane carrying 83 passengers landed at the city airport from Cebu.
“To do that we need to improve the facility. I had a meeting with Sec. Bautista and we agreed that next year we will have to put funds for our runway and we agreed that we will propose it for our general appropriations so that our 1.2-kilometer runway would become 2,000 meters,” he added.
Extending the runway length will enable bigger planes like Airbus to land at the city airport.
Another improvement that needs to be done at the city airport, according to Libanan, is to construct a better perimeter fence.
A bigger terminal building must also be constructed for passengers’ comfort while waiting for the plane to arrive. The departure area of the airport has an existing 60-seating capacity.
PAL plane used in the Cebu-Borongan operation has a carrying capacity of 86 passengers.
“We also need to have a hanger that can be used by the plane during times of emergency,” Libanan added.
Navigational equipment at the airport must also be improve to allow night time navigation or flight.
The PAL offers twice-a-week flights every Monday and Friday. The flight connects travelers from Metro Manila to the city via Cebu.
Borongan-bound passengers from Metro Manila can take the 8:55 am flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and arrives at Mactan-Cebu International Airport at around 10:20 am.
From Cebu, passengers will then transfer to a turboprop plane that will depart for Borongan at 11 am and arrive at about noon time.
The plane will fly to Cebu at 12:30 pm and arrive after an hour with the passengers transferring to an Airbus plane that will leave at 3:10 pm in Cebu and land in Manila at 4:50 pm.
Libanan urged residents of Eastern Samar to support the flight by patronizing it saying a better air traffic would mean continuous operations by PAL and in the process, help the economy of the province.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
