The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines announced Monday it will reactivate a program aimed at handling the increased number of air travelers this Christmas season.
Dubbed “CAAP Balik Pasko 2017,” the program sports measures to ensure safe, reliable and convenient operations at 35 airports in the country currently engaged in commercial operations from Dec. 1, 2017 up to Jan. 5, 2018.
To assure the riding public the measures will be successfully implemented, all leaves for operations personnel are canceled to make them available to augment airport service staff, CAAP said.
Concerned government agencies operating at the airports—including the Office of Transportation Security and the Police-Aviation Security Group—have also been directed to deploy sufficient personnel at their area of concern to ensure smooth passenger flow.
CAAP director-general Jim Sydiongco said the 35 airports under their supervision are prepared for more passengers, especially overseas Filipino workers, eager to return to the provinces to celebrate the holidays with their families in their respective hometowns.
Sydiongco said the number of air travelers is expected to increase 10 percent per existing records. In 2016, passenger movement totaled 18,337,772 passengers.
He also reminded all CAAP employees and officials to strictly adhere to the government’s “No Gift Policy” by refraining from both soliciting and accepting, directly or indirectly, any gift or favor from individuals, corporate entities or third parties.
The policy is clearly provided under Section 7(d) of Republic Act 6713, the Code of and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.