BI: More immigration counters to help ease long lines at NAIA Terminal 3
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration on Thursday said it is putting up more counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, where it said the reassignment of airlines from Terminal 1 has led to snaking lines at the departure area.
Airport authorities are also working on giving outbound passengers a bigger space to line up, the bureau said.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said in a statement that airline reassignments were the “foremost” reason for overcrowding in NAIA 3, adding that the transfer of airlines due to the impending shutdown of international flights from NAIA 2 caused a 10-percent increase in the average number of passengers who depart from the terminal daily.
Tansingco also said limited space, flight delays and diversions caused by bad weather and frequent declaration of lightning alerts cause congestion at NAIA 3.
“We are constantly coordinating our efforts with the Manila International Airport Authority in seeking the best solution to address this perennial problem of overcrowding in our immigration areas at the NAIA,” Tansingco said. “Among these are the installation of additional BI counters and expanding the space of our departure area.”
He said the BI has enough personnel at NAIA 3 and has even deployed additional immigration officers.
“In fact, due to the augmentation of our manpower, we have granted the request of our airport terminal heads outside Metro Manila, such as those in Clark, Mactan and Davao, by reassigning
immigration officers to their turfs,” Tansingco said.
He said 99 immigration officers will be reassigned to NAIA 1 and 3 on June 16 when NAIA 2 stops servicing international flights. — Xave Gregorio
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