By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter
THE CIVIL Aeronautics Board (CAB) is about to satisfy with local carriers on Friday (Oct. 18) to debate the airlines’ proposal to gather terminal enhancement fees from passengers amid the rising cost of using the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Eric Jose C. Ines said the CAB is currently studying the proposal of three airlines to gather these additional fees from passengers.
“The deliberation is ongoing, the CAB will look into it immediately,” Mr. Ines said by phone on Wednesday.
“MIAA’s part is just consultative, we’ll meet with CAB and the three local carriers on Friday in order that they will justify their reasons,” he added.
MIAA, which has transitioned to its sole regulatory function for NAIA, serves as a consultative body for the proposed collection of terminal enhancement fees, Mr. Ines said.
The local airlines are reportedly in search of a mean P300 per flight to cover the upper cost of operating at NAIA.
Except for the three local carriers: Philippine Airlines operated by PAL Holdings, Inc.; Cebu Pacific operated by Cebu Air, Inc.; and Philippines AirAsia, Inc. (AirAsia Philippines), Mr. Ines said other foreign carriers operating at NAIA can also seek the identical relief.
“I believe the airlines anticipated that the moment NNIC (Recent NAIA Infra Corp.) took over there can be a rise in fees. To cover up for that expense, they filed this. It continues to be under request, whether it should be approved or not, it’s being evaluated by CAB,” Mr. Ines said, noting that the petition was filed in September.
NNIC, the brand new operator of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), took over the operations and maintenance of the country’s predominant gateway on Sept. 14. Landing and take-off fees, a charge collected from airlines for using airport facilities and services, were increased starting this month.
The next passenger service charge can also be scheduled to be implemented by September 2025.
Enrico P. Villanueva, a senior lecturer on the University of the Philippines Los Baños Economics Department, said airline firms are expected to pass on additional charges to passengers.
“As a business, airlines need to pass on extra charges at terminals. It’s a misnomer to call the fee enhancement, if the latter has not yet happened,” Rene S. Santiago, former president of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, said in a Viber message.
“The primary order of the day ought to be for the Transport department and the MIAA to ask the brand new operator for a comprehensive list of the brand new airport fees that it seeks to implement on passengers and other airport stakeholders,” said Terry L. Ridon, a public investment analyst and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH.
Nigel Paul C. Villarete, a senior adviser on public-private partnership (PPP) on the technical advisory group Libra Konsult, Inc., said the proposed terminal enhancement fees are justified for the reason that recent operator of NAIA is about to implement enhancements on the airport.
“These will probably be incorporated of their set fares which they will adjust anytime anyway in order that they may simply adjust the airport fees accordingly,” Mr. Villarete said in a Viber message.
AirportWatch Philippines Spokesperson Danilo Lorenzo S. Delos Santos called the upper fees imposed by NNIC as unreasonable and premature because no improvements yet have been implemented at NAIA.
“Clearly, these airport fee increases by Administrative Order 1 are unjustified because these are imposed on the general public long before any impact from the rehabilitation efforts are felt by everyone,” Mr. Lorenzo said.
To recall, NNIC explained earlier that each one fee increases implemented are only in accordance with the parameters and financial terms set by the Transportation department, MIAA, and its project transaction advisor Asian Development Bank throughout the bidding of the NAIA PPP partnership (PPP) project.
