MikeLigalig.com

By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer

An interactive website has voted the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) one of the world’s 10 worst airports and the worst in Asia in 2010, with travelers describing it as “a bombed-out ruin” and “a cattle yard, only worse.”

The website, “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” ranked the Manila airports, particularly NAIA Terminal 1, fifth worst in the world, behind two in France, including Charles De Gaulle in Paris, and the Los Angeles and Moscow airports.

The ranking was based on reviews of air travelers who complained, among other things, of “safety concerns, lack of comfortable seating, rude staff, hostile security, poor facilities, no (or few) services to pass the time, bribery and general hassles of being in the airport.”

Two lists of the best and the worst airports are updated annually by the website (http://sleepinginair
ports.net), which travel agent Donna McSherry started in 1996.

NAIA actually rose two places in the list. In 2009, it was ranked seventh. Two other Asian airports made it to the worst list in 2010, both from India, in New Delhi and Bombay at sixth and eighth, respectively.

On the other hand, the world’s three best airports in 2010, according to the website, were also in Asia: Singapore Changi, Seoul Incheon and Hong Kong, the same top three the previous year. - PDI

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tsk tsk ts.

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Di open naman ang terminal 3

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Open skies not possible

Business Insight - Malaya
BY AMADO P. MACASAET
March 3, 2011


The government can officially announce an "open skies" policy today but it cannot expect foreign airlines to bring in tourists. On the contrary, at least five foreign airline firms have stopped coming to the Philippines.

Not exactly for want of warm bodies to fly to the country.

The problem, according to Carmelo L. Arcilla, executive director of the Civil Aeronautics Board, is the lack of safety in any of the 10 international airports in the country, particularly Ninoy Aquino International Airport with its three terminals.

According to Arcilla, the country’s civil aviation will remain for some time under so-called Category II, which means below safety standards under the classification system adopted by the United States.

Arcilla pointed out to Malaya Business Insight in an interview that the airports in the Philippines do not even have the all-too-important computerized data base.

On top of that, he said, "we do not have enough check pilots" who examine on a per flight basis the physical and mental condition of the pilots and the airworthiness of the aircraft they fly.

He said the Philippines needs about 130 such check pilots. "We have only 50," Arcilla said.

The principal reason is salary. Arcilla said check pilots, who have extensive flying experience and familiarity with nearly all kinds of aircraft, are paid only about P25,000 a month. They get 50 percent more when they fly.

This is about the salary of flight attendants and stewardesses flying the Pacific route of Philippine Airlines.

He said taxes on international airlines flying to the Philippines are much bigger than in other countries. The common carrier tax in the Philippines is 3 percent. A "gross Philippine billing" equivalent to 2.5 percent is also imposed.

On top of all that, airlines pay the overtime services of government employees such as immigration, customs and quarantine officials.

The NAIA has a total area of 850 hectares, rather small for international air-transport operations. The airport has only one main runway, with an alternate.

The former Clark Air Base has a total area of 2,500 hectares with three runways fit for the big birds, according to Arcilla.


more at http://www.malaya.com.ph/mar03/busi1.html

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continuation...

In spite of all these problems, there is a continuing advocacy to open Philippine skies to all comers.

An official of the DOTC said PAL objects to open skies because the Category II status prevents it from launching more flights and flying to more destinations in the United States. What PAL wants, the official said, is to make the NAIA raised to Category I so that the national flag carrier can expand its operations in the United States.

An upgrade to Category II is also expected to lead to a lifting of the European Union ban.

So far, PAL has only two destinations in the United States—Los Angeles and San Francisco in California—but it has been authorized to land in Vancouver en route to Las Vegas, Nevada.

PAL could have been granted more foreign destinations if NAIA had remained under Category I.

According to Arcilla, tourist arrivals in the Philippines have been mostly from Asian countries. He said that last year, Korea recorded the biggest number with 720,000 warm bodies. The United States came in second with 390,000 but the bulk of them are considered foreigners or Americans only in the sense that they are Filipinos who have acquired American citizenship.

The third largest source of tourists is Japan with 360,000 in 2010.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/mar03/busi1.html




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