(Eagle News) — Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday, Aug. 22, said there were “glaring security and protocol lapses” following the Ninoy Aquino International Airport fiasco last week, with the “unauthorized entry of 61 recovery flights” in the airport.
Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal had said the 61 uncoordinated flights worsened airport congestion at the four terminals “further delaying flight operations in the wake of the Xiamen Air mishap,” Binay said.
She said Xiamen Air mounted four recovery flights of the 61 flights “without clearance from MIAA thereby blatantly ignoring airport procedures and protocols.”
“Xiamen Air was able to get gate assignments over other airlines which had priority slots in NAIA which further caused problems on the ground,” she said.
According to Binay, based on what happened “it would appear that we are not ready for a worst-case scenario.”
She noted that “even the Bureau of Immigration (BI) did not have enough personnel to handle diverted recovery flights in Clark International Airport prompting some airlines to return back to their original destinations after more than 10 hours of waiting at the tarmac.”
She said it was “more practical” to augment the number of security personnel and BI staff in Clark and other airports, than to make the passengers wait for 10 hours in the airplane.
“Sa coordination pa lang eh marami nang naging lapses. The lack of a coherent system on the ground already suggests of an unpleasant situation,” she said.
“What passengers and airlines experienced seriously demands an accountability from everyone handling airport operations. What happened at NAIA was totally unacceptable. We cannot continue to fail,” Binay added.
On Thursday, Aug. 16, Xiamen Air flight MF8667 skidded off the NAIA’s primary runway, leading to flight cancellations.
Binay said at least 681 domestic and international flights, or about 200 regular flights that inconvenienced more than 136,000 passengers were affected.