Now that it is vacation time, may I reprint a letter sent by Bobby Ongpin to Balesin Club members:
I am in Balesin as I write this Nov. 21 and so you will understand if I sound somewhat effusive in this update. This is what my beloved Balesin does to me!
They switched on the runway lights for the first time last night and I must tell you, I have never seen a more beautiful sight. As you know, we have spent a tidy sum to get the runway lights installed, but it will be a game changer for Balesin.
As you are all aware, since about the middle of this year, we have been limited by CAAP to two morning flights a day because of the congestion at Naia. This was aggravated beginning August when we were allowed to fly only once and only very early in the morning and the airport was closed to General Aviation from noon until 7 p.m.
This constraint obviously made life difficult for our members because most weekends they could come only on Saturday morning and go back the next day Sunday, also in the morning. This made their stay in Balesin almost not worth it.
Additionally, we could not confirm the flights until the night before the flight because CAAP could only confirm the schedules to us at 5 p.m. the day before.
This made the situation even worse, and I understand why many members had to cancel flights or decided not to go at all.
Thus, a few months back, we started also flying out of Clark, but while this helped alleviate the problem especially for those who live in the northern part of Metro Manila and around Central Luzon, it was inconvenient for most of our members. Therefore, when we got the notice from CAAP about the noon to 7 p.m. “curfew” at Naia in August, we decided to bite the bullet with what we felt was the only solution, i.e., to light up the Balesin runway for night flights.
This has several major advantages: we can have unlimited flights after 7 p.m. and thus make it easier for our members to enjoy Balesin on a weekend. One can leave Manila after work on a Friday night at 7 p.m. or even later (we plan two flights, 7 p.m. and then 8:30 p.m.), enjoy Fridaynight dinner at Balesin and the whole day Saturday and Sunday and then leave Balesin on Sunday evening back to Manila, and thus have a full and satisfying weekend.
Now, a word about night flights. I have been told that some are concerned about flying at night. But for me (I started flying in 1957 long before jet planes were around and must have logged over a million miles, both in small private aircraft and big jetliners, since then), night flights are in fact preferable, even safer. Many pilots have told me that they would rather fly at night because the runway lights are much more visible and therefore easier to land the aircraft than during the day, especially when it is hazy or raining.
CAAP approved our night flight infrastructure in November. Thereafter, our aircraft and our pilots are required to take several practice runs, landing at night on the island before finally getting approvals for the Balesin runway to operate as a 24-hour aerodrome.
The newspapers have reported that Boracay’s Caticlan airport is now open for A320s because the original runway, which was only 850 meters long, has now been doubled to 1,700 meters. Boracay doesn’t have runway lights, so there are no night flights.
The Balesin runway is actually 1,530 meters, unfortunately just short of the 1,700 meters required by A320s. But many smaller jets have been landing on Balesin since day one without any problem.
The second major development is that we now have our AOC (Airline Operators Certificate). This means that we can apply for scheduled flights in the mornings and even during the curfew hours of the afternoon.
By this week, we can begin two Manila-balesin flights at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The plan is at least five times per day: 2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 2 at night.
We are aware that you are now making your Christmas holiday plans and we want you to have this dependable schedule where we can confirm flights to and from Balesin during the holiday season and beyond.
We are negotiating to acquire a second ATR72, also with a 68-passenger capacity. We hope to have this in service during the busy Christmas holidays, although the regulatory and contractual aspects may stretch beyond that.
But we feel confident that we can get it flying sometime in January and this will be heaven-sent, because the first quarter of the year until Easter time and after the school term is over is always the busiest time at Balesin.
Thus, by early next year, we feel confident that not only can we give confirmed flight schedules on a timely basis, but can also assure you that we can accept bookings of up to 500 or 600 passengers a day by flying our two ATR72s, our one Jetstream and our two Cessnas.
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