MIAA also eyes security fee for domestic flights

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is also eyeing the imposition of an additional fee for security of passengers on domestic flights.

An official, who requested anonymity, told The Star that the overall plan of MIAA was to charge passengers an additional "security and development fee" to fund their purchase of modern baggage X-ray machines as well as other security equipment.

"That’s in our overall plan," the source said.

The official added that the fee would be equivalent or even higher than the $5 fee that will soon be imposed on departing passengers of international flights coming out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals I and II.

If the security fee will be equivalent or even higher than the $5 (P260) to be imposed on departing passengers on international flights.

Last year, MIAA doubled the terminal fee collected from passengers, raising it from P100 to P200.

It will be recalled that MIAA is all set to impose the additional $5 "security and development fee" on international passengers by the second quarter of the year after it held last Friday a third and possibly the last public hearing on the proposal.

The plan is being questioned by the Airline Operators Council (AOC), an organization of station managers of the different local and foreign international airlines operating out of NAIA.

The AOC was dissatisfied with the series of public hearings held by MIAA, stressing that the authority has so far failed to provide them justification for the added charge.

"We are not opposing the security fee," Leoncio Dakila Nakpil II, AOC chairman, said. "We just want MIAA to explain and fully justify the additional fee because we foresee our passengers questioning us on it and we want to know what to tell our passengers.

It was learned that the security fee would be added to the ticket price of departing passengers, included among other charges such as fuel surcharge and the airport tax.

AOC had also questioned the need for imposing the security fee to buy X-ray machines for the NAIA passenger terminals when MIAA itself had earlier announced they plan to open the controversial NAIA Terminal III, which already has modern baggage X-rays.

MIAA is projected to collect some P1.3 billion each year or P7 billion in five years from the collection of the security fee.