IMMIGRATION Commissioner Norman Tansingco yesterday called for an expansion of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to pave the way for a bigger immigration area amid the continued increase of international travelers.
Tansingco made the call in the wake of news reports of passengers experiencing long queues at NAIA, the country’s premiere international airport.
He said the queues are the result of the transfer of more flights, with Terminals 1 and 3 witnessing a surge in international travelers since international flights were stopped at Terminal 2.
Tansingco previously said the transfer to NAIA Terminal 3 of China Southern Airlines, Gulf Air, Jeju Air, Thai Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Jetstar, Starlux and Scoot caused a 10 percent increase in the average number of passengers who depart from the terminal daily.
Data provided by the BI showed that Terminal 1 experienced a remarkable increase in daily average international travelers since June 16 this year.
Terminal 1 recorded 28,956 passengers per day, a significant 48.1 percent rise from the previous average of 19,553 passengers prior to the transfer.
Terminal 3 also had a substantial surge in international passenger traffic for the same period with a daily average of 33,682 passengers, or an increase of 19.58 percent from the pre-transfer average of 28,168.
To address the problem, Tansingco said they have added more immigration officers to serve travelers.
“Now we see more immigration officers on duty than installed counters,” he said, adding they have also deployed eight mobile counters per terminal to address the long queues.
He said airports in other countries have big immigration areas to accommodate more counters and passengers, adding that a bigger immigration area would “allow for a faster and more convenient experience for the traveling public.”
The agency recently deployed 59 new immigration officers at NAIA to reinforce the 700 deployed in the area
Currently, each shift of BI officers at NAIA Terminal 3 processes around 4,000 to 6,000 arriving and departing passengers.
