Haze forces cancellation of flights in Mindanao

Health authorities warned that haze is known to contain hazardous chemicals and compounds, like sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.

It urged the people in the affected communities to limit outdoors activities and monitor health advisories from the government. “They should stay indoors and rest as much as possible”, according to regional director William Cuñado.

Philippines Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific have stopped their daily runs to Cotabato city in the southern island of Mindanao since Saturday (Oct 17).

A staff of the Cebu Pacific ticketing office said the airline firm has not issued any statement on when the flights in Cotabato airport would resume.

Commercial flights here have been cancelled since October. 17, Saturday.

Charlene Jamero, another PAGASA weather specialist, said representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao met Thursdaywith PAGASA and maintained the policy not to allow aircraft to land or take off from Awang airport due to the haze.

Since the summer, Indonesia has been battling smog-belching fires – an annual problem during the dry season – which have produced a blanket of haze that has also spread into Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Thailand.

Dense haze hung like a cloud of dust over Davao, Mindanao’s largest city with 1.5 million people, yesterday afternoon, plunging it under an early twilight.

Because Manila airport is operating at its full capacity of 40 landings and take-offs per hour, any delay involving Mindanao flights disrupts the aircraft queue for the rest of the day, he added.

“Let’s avoid going around breathing the air in areas where the haze from Indonesia had spread”, he said.

PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section officer-in-charge Anthony Lucero said the wind circulation from Typhoon Lando (international name “Koppu”) could have aggravated the situation, as it caused the smoke from the Indonesia peatland fires to drift to the Philippines, particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

“We can’t say at this point that the smoke and haze will go away soon”.