(Eagle News)–Transportation Secretary Art Tugade has urged authorities to “seriously consider” the opening of airports in areas under a general community quarantine.
A statement on Saturday, May 2, said Tugade gave the instructions to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and airport authorities in a meeting on Thursday, April 30, via video conferencing.
“The reopening of airports in GCQ areas to commercial aviation will gradually jump start airline operations now hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will plant the seeds for domestic tourism. This should seriously be considered,” Tugade said.
CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco said airlines have an existing and an established air route network within the Visayas and Mindanao which can be used anytime.
He added some airlines were “readily capable of mounting inter island flights to serve communities from one GCQ area to another GCQ area using the inter Visayas and/or Inter Mindanao air routes.”
Sydiongco said using the Hub and Spoke model, air carriers can use regional airports as an alternative airport hub, noting that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga are still under an enhanced community quarantine and as such, are closed to regular commercial aviation operations.
Tugade asked the authorities to create a strategy moving forward for the implementation of the Hub and Spoke model.
“We want to operationalize this approach before the end of next week, but of course without compromising health and safety protocols set by the IATF and the Department of Health. Pag-iisipan namin kung paano ito maisasagawa ng maayos at mabilis,” Tugade said.
