The flights from Zamboanga City, Tacloban City and Puerto Princesa were diverted to Mactan because of poor visibility at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

A malfunctioning navigational device, the VOR, which is used to guide planes during bad weather or poor visibility was still out of order in the NAIA.

Two outgoing flights from Mactan for Manila and one incoming flight from Manila were also delayed for a few hours, according to Malou Tuscano of the public affairs department at the Mactan airport.

A total of 974 passengers were affected, although the delayed flights were later able to take off past 1 p.m.

The “very high frequency omni-directional radio range” (VOR) device broke down last June 19 and caused disruptions in domestic and international flights.

The VOR equipment was purchased 14 years ago by the Aviation Authority of the Philippines and is due for replacement next year.

Two of the three diverted flights had yet to take off for NAIA as of 2 p.m. Saturday, with their passengers kept inside their respective planes.

Merc Bahande, a staffer at the Mactan airport's operations department, said there were few PAL flights which were able to arrive and take off on time early Saturday morning.

PR 843 was able to arrive at MCIA at 5:49 a.m. from Manila and then left for Manila at 6:46 a.m. through PR 844.

PR 823 arrived safely from Manila at 7:42 a.m. and it immediately left for Davao City, he said.

PR 847 arrived at 8:42 a.m. Its flight back to Manila (PR 848) was delayed from 9:35 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.

Jonathan Gesmundo, acting head of PAL conporation communications, said other PAL flights were diverted to Clark in Pampanga, and Iloilo.

As of 2 pm yesterday, all diverted flights were allowed to travel to the NAIA after a thick haze hovering over the airport's runway was gone.

At least 35 international and domestic flights were diverted yesterday.

“We are using the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) as of now. This only applies to plane landings. Pilots, therefore, must see the runways. But since visibility is not possible, planes have to fly back to an alternate airport,” Gesmundo told Cebu Daily News.

He said they received an advisory that VFR was not possible as of 6:30 a.m. yesterday.

Pilots have been using the VFR when landing for the past two weeks since repairs were being made on an old and worn out piece of navigation equipment used to guide planes landing at the NAIA.