Airline company suspends operations in north Luzon

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – After heavily investing to open its air route in this mountain resort city, the management of Sky Pasada temporarily suspended its operations in all flight routes while it complies with safety issues of its aircrafts upon orders of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

In an advisory to agencies and media outfits in Northern Luzon, Ramon Guico III, Sky Pasada president and chief executive officer, said in accordance with the directive of CAAP for the improvement and safety specifications of their aircrafts, LET-410, the airline company decided to suspend its operations in the meantime for all its routes in order to prevent imposition of stiffer sanctions on its fleet by the regulating agency.

The company official apologized to the public for the inconvenience brought about by temporary suspension of their operations but added normal airline operations will resume as soon as all safety concerns of the CAAP have been appropriately addressed.

The Sky Pasada fleet is currently composed of 2 UVP-LET 410 aircrafts which are the best aircrafts serving in different routes such as Palanan and Maconacon, Isabela.

According to Guico, the people of the coastal towns in Isabela and Cagayan depend on the airline company to transport their goods to the cities and provide sufficient supply.

At the same time, the said sentiment goes for the people of Basco, Batanes, Caticlan in the Visayas and Baguio City, the newest route of the airline.

On June 8, the CAAP notified the airline company to perform corrective measures on the safety of their aircrafts and make sure that the same will be compliant to international standards by July 1.

Based on the assessment of the company, it will take a month before their aircrafts will be able to resume their regular flights since they will have to be brought back to Czechoslovakia to correct the needed safety features.

With the use of its upgraded aircrafts, Sky Pasada assured its customers safer and better service to more exciting destinations in the country which will help boost the tourism industry in Baguio, Cagayan, Isabela, Aklan and to other prospective destinations nationwide.