AIRPORT regulatory agencies have asked the House committee on transportation for at least six months to comply with the directive to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
During the hearing of the House panel on the bill urging the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to present a rationalization program for the country's biggest airport, MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal said it is not possible to move some airline operations out of the NAIA in just 45 days as directed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Monreal said that during his meeting with airline companies, majority requested for six months to comply with the directive. Cebu Pacific Air, for its part, requested for one year.
"It's quite difficult to move, really move forward, with 45 days," Monreal told the committee.
The panel's chair, Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, deferred the committee's action on Monreal's request. He asked the latter to submit a position paper so that the committee will be properly guided.
In previous hearings, the committee asked the MIAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to decongest the NAIA and transfer some flights to Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
NAIA domestic terminals 2 and 4 were designed for only 10.5 million passengers, but reportedly catered to 20.6 million passengers in 2017.
During the hearing, Sarmiento urged the MIAA and CAAP to include in its position paper where the flights will be transferred to. He noted that the Clark Airport can accommodate only up to 4.2 million passengers, but excess passengers at the NAIA have reached 10 million.
The Cebu Pacific Air, in a position paper submitted to the House committee, objected to the plan to transfer domestic flights to Clark.
It said that realigning the airlines from one terminal to another does not alter the fact that NAIA is operating beyond its capacity.
Cebu Pacific also said the proposal is burdensome and inconvenient, especially for the overseas Filipino workers who will have connecting flights through Clark.
In previous hearings, Alvarez blamed the congestion at the NAIA on the airline stakeholders' mixed use of airport terminals.
He urged airport stakeholders to transfer their excess flights to Clark or face possible cancellation of their franchises. (SunStar Philippines)