Zest Air blames bad weather as plane overshoots runway
Manila Times
NEW player and budget airline Zest Airways Inc. blamed bad weather after flight Z2-863 overshot the runway at Caticlan Thursday morning, which prompted the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to close the airport until Friday.
Zest Air owner Alfredo Yao said the MA60 plane with tail number RPC 8992 exceeded the runway of Godofredo Ramos Airport in Caticlan, Aklan because of the abnormal weather.
Just in April this year, another Zest Air plane, formerly Asian Spirit, also experienced the same incident at the Caticlan airport.
Yao said Zest Airs five MA60 planes were brand-new and the company never used the aircrafts of the old Asian Spirit.
Yao assured that other domestic flights of Zest Air are in normal operation.
As a matter of fact, the Asian Spirit planes - i.e. Let 410 and the DHC - had much better field performance and could have stopped in less than half the distance requried ..
Old planes - not always bad planes ..
And even the BAe 146 flies in shorter runways, where the MA 60 would scrape the fence off the air fields ..