The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said it would suspend, for the second time, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) main runway’s daily maintenance schedule to give way for more recovery flights.

The main runway undergoes derubberizing and degreasing daily, from 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.

There were 516 flights, and an estimated 80,000 passengers affected when flight operations at NAIA were put on hold Sunday night as a result of ashfall from the Taal Volcano eruption.

Partial operations resumed on Monday, with first flight arrival recorded at 12:21 p.m., and first departure flight being able to take off at 12:31 p.m.

Since the resumption of operations until 7 a.m. Tuesday, MIAA already accommodated a total of 360 departure and arrival flights.

MIAA has been giving priority to departure flights, so the ramps may be cleared of planes parked there since Sunday night. Second priority was given to regular scheduled flights on Monday.

MIAA started accommodating recovery flights from 10 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. Tuesday.

“Hopefully, this would be the last time that we would (cancel) the runway maintenance schedule, or maybe until tomorrow, many recovery flights have already been mounted,” MIAA Public Affairs officer-in-charge, Consuelo Bungag, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Even if the airport is now back to normal operations, MIAA general manager Ed Monreal appeals to affected passengers to check their flight status first, before heading to the airport to avoid congestion. (PNA)