NAIA terminals closed for 12 hours on Tuesday due to ‘Tisoy’

FILE: Facade of Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. (Photo By Mithril Cloud at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — In anticipation of the possible onslaught by Typhoon “Tisoy” (Kammuri), all the four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will be closed on Tuesday (December 3) from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., its management announced Monday night.

“I will accept if people (would) say we made a wrong decision. I will accept if people would say we are overreacting. I will not risk the people’s lives,” said Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Ed Monreal in a press briefing.

He urged the airlines to lessen the burden of their passengers, and announce flight schedules early.

More than 100 domestic and international flights were canceled as of Monday afternoon.

Majority of these are domestic flights.

Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific have already canceled a number of their flights supposedly scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

AirAsia Philippines, on the other hand, has re-scheduled a number of its flights set on Tuesday.

Monreal said upon the resumption of airport operations, priority will be given to flights that were originally scheduled from 11 p.m. onwards.

Then recovery flights will be accommodated, he added.

“Tisoy” was last seen 165 kilometers east of Juban, Sorsogon, moving westward at 15 kph.

It is forecast to make landfall over Catanduanes or Sorsogon between Monday night and Tuesday.

The typhoon packs a maximum sustained winds of 155 kph near the center, and gustiness of up to 190 kph.

Monreal said this is the second time he would close the airport due to weather disruption. The first time was in December 2016, he said.