AOC accepts new arrival cards

MANILA, Philippines - Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi assured the riding public that the new machine-readable arrival cards were accepted by the members of the Airline Operators Council (AOC), represented by chairwoman Ma. Lourdes Reyes.

In a meeting yesterday morning attended by airline representatives and officials from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the MIAA, Reyes said the new cards will be shipped by members of AOC to their mother unit abroad.

Reyes said they received an initial 10,000 copies of the new cards, which will be shipped abroad in compliance to Cusi’s directive.

Reyes said they were able to send some 1,000 copies to Gulf Air, Singapore, Asiana, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and KLM.

Reyes said Bureau of Immigration commissioner Marcelino Libanan assured them the continued supply of the card.

Libanan said that after the meeting with the members of the AOC, the airlines agreed to distribute the cards, along with the Customs declaration form and the quarantine health checklist, to passengers while they are still in the plane to avoid the long queues experienced during the first day of implementation last Jan. 1.      – Rudy Santos