Int’l airline tickets to carry terminal fee by October

MANILA, Philippines - The cost of international airline tickets purchased starting October this year will carry the P550 terminal fee, authorities said yesterday.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and 33 out of 34 international airlines and three local airlines operating out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) signed yesterday an agreement in which the International Passenger Service Charge or the terminal fee will be integrated into the cost of airline tickets, with the airlines collecting the fees.

The airlines will then remit the fees to the MIAA, less their service fee of 3.5 percent.

MIAA media affairs division head Connie Bungag said the agreement will recognize all those exempted by law from paying the terminal fee, such as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Muslim pilgrims, national athletes endorsed by the Philippine Sports Commission and children aged two years old below.

OFWs comprise 99 percent of passengers exempted from paying the terminal fee.

The MIAA collects an average of P8.36 million per day in terminal fees. For 2013 alone, the agency collected a gross of P3.052 billion in international terminal fees.

A total of 7,671,643 passengers passed through NAIA in 2013.  Out of this figure, 2,054,494 were exempted from paying terminal fees.