Cebu Pacific plane touched wings with a Zest Air plane in Puerto Princesa, Palawan airport, Tuesday 6:30pm. Photo taken inside the terminal where my friends and I were, waiting for our delayed flight. We were just talking when we suddenly heard screams. The Zest Air plane right in front of us was shaking! I wanted to run because I thought the plane was going to ram into the terminal haha Anyway, we went for a closer look. The Cebu Pacific plane was apparently making a U-Turn to get to the runway to take off, but sideswiped the other plane. ZA’s plane’s guide lights were damaged. CP is also looking for damages in the fuel tank.
Our flight, Airphil Express, was delayed because of the incident. My other friends who were boarding the ZA flight when the incident happened were forced to spend the night at Fleuris hotel, care of ZA. CP passengers were reportedly able to fly the same night since CP sent a “rescue flight”.
The airport seems to be able to accommodate only 4 planes at a time. When we were there, there was one plane per airline - Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Air and Airphil Express. The airport was literally full, each plane was very close to another. Palawan’s tourism has dramatically boomed, especially after the naming of the underground river as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, hence the increase in number of flights. Well, time for a bigger airport, Puerto Princesa! Or at least, they should hasten the construction of the new airport (in San Vicente, according to our tour guide).
