The city council renewed its call for the Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and other airline companies to provide additional air transport services to the city.
This came in the heels of the body’s move to also reiterate to authorities its desire to allow the continued operation of the Loakan Airport amid reports of plans to close the same to give way to the expansion of the Philippine Economic Zone.
The body reiterated Resolution 245 s. 2006 where the council first aired their appeal to the various airline firms to consider the city in their route to improve air transport services to the city and rev up the city’s tourism industry.
“The officer-in-charge, Air Transportation Office, Baguio airport, Baguio City, in her letter dated 29 April 2008 suggested that representations be made to request airline companies like the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific that recently acquired smaller aircrafts like Bombargers and ATP to service smaller airports [to come and service the City of Baguio],” the resolution noted.
The council move was based on the re-commendation of the council committee on public utilities, transportation, and traffic legislation.
In approving the resolution for the retention of the operation of the Loakan Airport, the body agreed that the airport should be maintained as it remains to be an important support system to the city’s tourism industry.
They sought to reiterate city council Resolution 157 approved by the body last year which expressed the residents’ “desire for the continued operation of the airport… and to make known the opposition to any planned closure and/or conversion to an extension area of the Baguio City Economic Zone.”
Resolution authors councilors Galo Weygan and Perlita Rondez said the problem on the safety of residents traversing the runway to get to their barangays could be addressed by constructing an alternate passageway for the people’s use.
The airport’s retention was supported by the Baguio Tourism Council which even appealed to the city government and stakeholders to mount a campaign to stop the plan.
The closure’s negative sociological, financial, cultural, and environmental impacts should not be discounted, according to the body.
Resolution 157, s. 2007 cited numerous resolutions adopted in the past that support the continued operation of the airport.
The council also held a public hearing on the matter last year where many groups including the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, the Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Baguio Association of Hotels and Inns, and the Baguio Conventions and Visitors Bureau expressed opposition to the closure plan. |
