CAB to probe into chaos at NAIA 3

By: Niña P. Calleja - 10 years ago

Airport chaos was “unprecedented.” CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SAM AUDREY PAJARILLO

The long queues of passengers and delayed and canceled flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) 3 during the holiday rush was “unprecedented,” the chief of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said on Saturday.

“This was quite unprecedented. During this season, there would be overcrowding at the airport in the past but not in this scale,” CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said on the phone.

The CAB, the government agency regulating the economic aspects of air transportation, is leading a probe on Monday with other agencies such as the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to determine if the budget air carrier Cebu Pacific should be held liable for the chaos at the Naia 3 on Christmas Day and the day after.

He said based on initial reports of CAB personnel, there was a massive dislocation of passengers on Dec. 25 and 26 due to the long queues and unmanned counters of Cebu Pacific.

The CAB head also said that other domestic airlines such as Philippine Airlines and AirAsia Zest did not encounter such problems during the holidays.

“Airline personnel must check in the passengers on time before boarding. Regulations require that in case of a long queue, they must augment their check-in counters,” the CAB official said.

In a statement issued Saturday, Cebu Pacific said: “[The] MIAA lent its support by allowing us to use more check-in counters. At peak we had 38 counters from the normal 28. We also flew in additional airport services staff and requisitioned more third-party ground agents to cope with the load. We are looking at ways of moving forward to prevent a repeat of this situation. We will fully cooperate with authorities toward this end.”

CAB said it had received complaints from 14 passengers as of Friday, but was still waiting for information on the total number of passengers who were not able to board their flights during the holidays.

“This is supposed to be a normal holiday rush. It should not have happened,” Arcilla said.

In the past years, the airlines were still able to accommodate the surge of people going to the airports.

He said one explanation provided by Cebu Pacific to CAB was the “lumping” of dislocated passengers due to flight cancellations.

“The passengers of the canceled flights would cascade into the next day. The existing schedule would thus be disrupted,” CAB said.

Asked on the possible sanctions to be meted out, Arcilla said: “I cannot speculate because sanctions are still to be deliberated upon in the hearings.”

But he said sanctions for erring airlines could include penalty, suspension or revocation of permits depending on the violations committed.

He set aside the allegation that overbooking also caused the bumping off of passengers.

“Overbooking would not normally cause massive dislocation of passengers,” he said.

“Airlines must rebook or refund the tickets of the dislocated passengers and compensate them for the trouble and inconvenience,” Arcilla said.

The Naia 3 in the afternoon of Dec. 25 and morning of Dec. 26 was in chaos with the influx of people hoping to spend their holidays outside Manila.

The newly rehabilitated terminal was crammed with passengers, mostly sitting on the floors to wait for their flights.

There was a point when the terminal was too overcrowded it resembled the congestion in bus terminals during the days leading to the holiday break.

Originally posted at 5:49 pm | Saturday, December 27, 2014