Inbound International Passenger Capacity At NAIA Capped AT 1,500

Inbound International Passenger Capacity At NAIA Capped AT 1,500

Aviation regulators released an advisor early this week announcing that they will cap the passengers coming from abroad to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City to only 1,500 per day. The limit does not discriminate based on nationality and will apply to both Filipinos and foreigners.

The said cap will be in effect from March 18 to April 18. 

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) added that there will be appropriate penalties for airlines operating in NAIA that will exceed the allowed capacity.  In their circular, they stated, “any airline whose passenger numbers will exceed the allowed number per flight as monitored by OSS (One-Stop-Shop) Repatriation Group, shall be penalized in the amount of 10, 000 per excess passenger unless otherwise allowed by the OSS Repat Group.”

While CAB did not provide reasons for the cap, it can be assumed that it’s a mitigating measure in response to avert a sudden rise in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila. 

There were 4,437 COVID-19 cases recorded nationwide on Tuesday, with NCR accounting for the bulk of the cases. This recent travel restriction is the first since a series of easing in air travel in the country that started in October. 

The flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said in response to the new restriction that it’s ready to comply. Although all flights for March 18 will go on as scheduled, their succeeding flights in the next days and weeks will be covered by the limit and will most likely see cancellations.

“We will be announcing in due course any flight cancellations on other days for the rest of the period,” PAL said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, other carriers have yet to comment or issue new guidelines.

Metro Manila is under a looser general community quarantine for March, under which 50% to 75% of most businesses are allowed to operate, travel between localities are allowed, and most recently, should go unhampered, while tourism is permitted, following health protocols

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