MANILA, Philippines—Budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air Sunday announced delays in its trips on Sunday and their corresponding return flights after birds caused mechanical failure in one of its aircraft.
In an advisory it posted on Facebook Sunday morning, Cebu Pacific said “a bird strike on one of our aircraft” occurred and this would cause delays in the evening flights to Cebu, Bacolod and Shanghai from Manila.
Cebu Pacific apologized for any inconvenience the incident may have caused.
The airline did not say when and where the bird strike incident occurred and how severe the damage its aircraft sustained, which triggered the delays.
The airline’s 5J 569 Manila-Cebu flight was rescheduled to leave the capital at 6:10 p.m., while its return trip 5J 570 from Cebu was slated at 7:55 p.m.
The 5J 481 Manila-Bacolod trip was listed to leave the capital at 8:05 p.m. The return 5J 482 flight was expected to leave Bacolod at 9:45 p.m.
The Shanghai-bound plane was also delayed. Its departure from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Terminal 3) was scheduled at 9:40 p.m., and its return from the booming Chinese city was set at 1:35 a.m. Monday.
The company advised affected passengers to call (02)7020888 or (032)2308888 or check its Facebook and Twitter pages for more updates.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has recorded over 100,000 incidents of bird strikes since the agency began maintaining a database in 1990.
At least 23 fatalities have been directly attributed to accidents such as bird strikes.
These cases cost the American airline industry some $123 million a year, “but when costs are estimated based on 80 percent of strikes that were not reported the cost could be as high as $614 million per year,” the FAA website said.
Earlier this year, an aircraft of Cebu Pacific encountered a bird strike as it began its descent to Tacloban City in Leyte. The plane managed to land safely but the aircraft could not make a return trip to Manila.
Last week, a Qantas flight made an emergency landing in Singapore after one of the plane’s engines caught fire, forcing the airline to ground all six of its Airbus A380 super jumbos.
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