A Cebu Pacific Airbus A321neo suffered a runway excursion at Butuan (Bancasi) Airport in the southern Philippines on the morning of 9 August 2026, forcing the airport to suspend operations and disrupting travel across multiple carriers.
The aircraft, an Airbus A321-271NX registered RP-C4120, was operating flight 5J786 and was taxiing to position for departure on Runway 12 when the incident occurred at around 07:38 local time. During a turn to line up, the aircraft's landing gear ran off the paved surface and became stuck in a grassy area adjacent to the runway, leaving the jet disabled.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) suspended all landing and take-off operations at the airport at 07:48 to allow recovery teams to clear the obstruction. With the single runway blocked, the closure quickly rippled through the day's schedule. According to reports, 11 domestic flights bound for Manila and Cebu were cancelled, including five Cebu Pacific services on the Butuan–Manila route.
No injuries were reported among passengers or crew. Runway excursions during taxi and line-up are typically low-speed events, and the primary consequences are aircraft recovery, possible damage inspection, and the operational impact of closing the runway rather than harm to those on board.
Butuan serves the Caraga region of Mindanao and, like many Philippine provincial airports, operates with a single runway and limited ground-handling capacity. That makes it especially vulnerable to disruption when an aircraft becomes disabled: without a parallel taxiway network or a second strip, a single stranded jet can halt all traffic until it is towed clear and the surface is inspected for debris and damage.
The A321neo is the largest member of Airbus's best-selling A320neo family and a core part of Cebu Pacific's fleet strategy, offering high seat counts and long range for the low-cost carrier's domestic and regional network. Cebu Pacific has been steadily standardising around the neo family as it replaces older aircraft and grows capacity across the Philippine archipelago.
Investigators are expected to review why the aircraft departed the paved surface during the turn, examining factors such as taxiway and runway geometry, surface markings, and crew inputs. Cebu Pacific has apologised to affected travellers and worked to rebook passengers hit by the cancellations, while ground crews focused on recovering the aircraft and returning the airport to normal operations.
Sources: AVHerald, Aviation Safety Network. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Elena Vargas.
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