MANILA, Philippines — The negative rating slapped by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the country’s premiere airport may soon be lifted following the positive findings of a US assessment team that visited the Ninoy Aquino International Airport recently.
Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Mar Roxas announced Friday that Transportation Security Administration inspectors from the US have found the NAIA to be in general compliance with the ICAO standards.
Members of the TSA were in the country from November 14-19 for the Annual Security Assessment (ASA) inspection.
Roxas said the TSA team informed him during the “outgoing briefing” at the end of their inspection that the NAIA is in compliance with international standards.
“Despite a few specific instances where the TSA found need for improvement, the Philippines was found to be in general satisfactory condition by the TSA,” Roxas said in a statement.
“The favorable result of TSA’s inspection shows that our initial efforts to make improvement in our airport security have been successful. We are further committed to sustaining these improvements to bring benefits to our local and international passengers and tourists,” Roxas said.
In 2007, the US FAA through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) downgraded the NAIA to Category 2 status due to deficiencies in infrastructure such as a perimeter fence as well as lack in security procedures, equipment and personnel.
The US FAA downgrade was seconded by the European Union banning Philippine flag carriers from flying to their member countries due to the supposed deficiencies in the country’s civil aviation system.
Since the downgrade, the Manila International Airport Authority has worked on improving the airport facilities with the construction of a 13-kilometer long fence and access roads that allow fire, emergency and medical crews access to aircraft during accidents.
The new management has also put in place new security procedures to make it at par with standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
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