AFTER hearing from Commonwealth Ports Authority officials about the T’Way Air’s cancelation of flights and Jeju Air’s reduction in air services, House Ways and Means chairman, Rep. John Paul P. Sablan said, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios must submit a realistic budget revision.
The governor who submitted a proposed $179.7 million spending measure on April 1, 2025 is allowed by law to submit a budget revision on July 1, 2025.
During the bicameral conference committee meeting to address House Bill 24-17 which seeks to remove the restriction of the use of funds between seaports and airports, CPA Board Chairman Ramon A. Tebuteb and acting comptroller Zack Diaz informed the lawmakers that T’Way Air is canceling its daily flights for a couple of months, starting June.
They CPA officials also told the joint committee about Jeju Air’s decision to reduce its daily flights from two to one.
In an interview after the meeting, Sablan said, “these are things that we need to factor in our decision for any budget deliberation.”
The governor’s authority to revise the budget, he said, is very important because whatever revenue projection the administration is seeing “we need to make sure that it’s a realistic projection.” The administration, he said, can no longer take into consideration the daily flights brought by T’Way Air and Hong Kong Airlines which is not coming back anytime soon.
Because, in the month of June and July “there will be suspension of flights from T’Way Air, so it is important for executive branch to factor these potential decrease in revenue as a result of these suspension flights,” Sablan said.
He reiterated that “when there is a developing information about canceling of flights I’m hoping that the administration is going to turn in a revised budget that reflects the decrease of revenues as a result of these cancelation and reduction of flights.”
