The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals recorded a1.6 million arriving and departing international and domestic passengers for the month of December 1-15, 2022.
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Cesar Chiong called on the airline operators and their ground handlers operating at the NAIA terminals to ensure maximum attendance of their personnel and include buffers in case the need for augmentation arises during this Christmas week.
“So we can be assured that they have the numbers, I have directed our head of operations to make the airlines submit their manpower schedules and deployment vis-a-vis their number of flights in a day, making sure that there are enough ground staff especially check in agents, loaders and ramp agents,” said GM Chiong.
He also ordered MIAA’s own operations and engineering teams to ascertain reliability of all facilities and equipment that will highly impact on flight operation.
Chiong immediately ordered for a thorough inspection of the baggage handling system in NAIA Terminal 3 following a report that it encountered some issues for about an hour on the morning of Saturday, December 17.
While contingency measures put into place followed the MIAA’s Manual for Irregular Operations (IROPS), the GM emphasized that the aim should always be “no system failure”.
In this light, he urged airlines to also plan for contingencies to complement airport mitigating measures for irregular operations.
Recent reports where pieces of luggage belonging to airline passengers failed to arrive with them in Manila, GM Chiong expressed serious concern over the incident. He said that airlines must always keep passengers aware if their bags were not loaded onto the flight and give them the necessary compensation per day of delay based on the Air Passenger Bill of Rights (APBR).
Chiong stressed that the MIAA and the airlines should always work together so that the air riding public can be provided with a pleasant airport experience. (JERRY S. TAN)
