Before increasing the terminal fees, Senator Grace Poe on Thursday said the Manila International Airport Authority and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport must first focus on “passenger service.”
“Terminal Fee” is the popular term for “Passenger Service Charge.”
“I take it that the most important words are “passenger” and “service,” said Poe, chairman of the Senate committee on public services.
MIAA is eyeing to increase the terminal fees at the NAIA by April next year to fund ongoing improvements of its facilities. It is proposing a P200-terminal fee hike for international flights and P100 for domestic flights.
Terminal fees at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport are pegged at P850 for international flights and P300 for domestic while Clark International Airport charges P650 for international and P150 for domestic.
Terminal fee for international flights will be pegged at P750 from P550 and P300 for domestic from the P200 original fee.
“What are they doing right now with the d existing “passenger service charge” or terminal fee? What are they going to do if ever it increases? “ asked Poe.
Poe said the riding public should not simply take it hook, line and sinker and give it to them.
“Paano naman ang karapat-dapat na serbisyo sa pasahero?” she said.
Poe said there should also be real public consultations because of the sheer number of people–42 million–who will be affected.
She said this is the number of passengers who flew through NAIA last year.
“Another reason why the holding of public hearings is a must is the recent imposition of fuel charges on Filipino air travellers. There are multiple taxes and fees embedded in a ticket, including travel tax,” she said.
The senator also said that the MIAA should not forget that there are still millions in unrefunded terminal fees that have yet to be returned to the passengers.
“What happened to these? “ also asked Poe who is seeking reelection in next year’s mid-term elections.
Poe also pointed out that the dust hasn’t settled yet from the Xiamen incident that paralyzed NAIA for at least 36 hours.
She said the stranded passengers who testified during her committee’s hearings that the sound system at NAIA malfunctioned and nobody informed them about their boarding time and the location of the boarding gate that time.
MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal said the increase in the terminal fees is projected to generate at least 1 percent increase in the gross revenue of NAIA.
He hopes the terminal fee hikes will be able to sustain NAIA as one of the world’s most improved airports.
“We are no longer considered as one of the world’s worst airports and we need to sustain this. If we don’t have the additional revenues to sustain those we might revert to that situation,” he said.
NAIA has ranked 10th on the list of the world’s most improved airports by United-Kingdom based consultancy firm Skytrax.
The MIAA expects a deficit on its revenues within the next five years if the terminal fees are not increased.
Overseas Filipino workers will still be exempted from paying the terminal fees.