“Forget about sleeping in this airport! You will not want to even close your eyes here...The site also alleged that corruption is still a problem in the most important gateway to the country. And yet, the airport keeps charging fees from users, despite the overall deterioration of the facility.”
Speaking of airports, the Sleeping in Airports Web site has announced a change in its standings. From fifth worst in the world, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is now the rating site’s absolute worst for 2011. The site’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports, which evaluates the facilities and user-friendliness of the world’s air terminals, earlier made news locally when it panned NAIA for being the worst in Asia.
NAIA Terminal 1 “is in bad shape,” the site said. “Earlier this year, some bad press regarding the state of the airport made airport officials promise to clean its Terminal 1 toilets and provide running water and soap. Imagine... they actually had to ‘promise’ to offer this!”
The site found nothing to praise about the old international terminal, which is used by all international airlines. It had a better opinion of the new Terminal 3, used by local budget carriers, but warned that the facility was defective.
The site found nothing to praise about the old international terminal, which is used by all international airlines. It had a better opinion of the new Terminal 3, used by local budget carriers, but warned that the facility was defective.
The latest bad review is not really news to Filipinos who have long suffered from the mismanagement and near-permanent state of disrepair at what is still the most-used airport in the country today. The terminal named after the assassinated father of President Noynoy Aquino has not seen a major refurbishing in decades.
The review site noted that part of the ceiling of Terminal 1 even collapsed recently. “Forget about sleeping in this airport! You will not want to even close your eyes here!”
The site also alleged that corruption is still a problem in the most important gateway to the country. And yet, the airport keeps charging fees from users, despite the overall deterioration of the facility.
“Bribery and theft exist,” according to the online guide, which suggests airports that are friendly enough to sleep in, especially while waiting for connecting flights to other destinations, to budget travelers. “Airport taxes are collected, but the money does not seem to go towards the betterment of the airport. Document holders have been told their papers are not correct, but a fee of X amount should clear up the matter.”
So far, the general manager appointed by Aquino to NAIA has not replied to the latest “improvement” in the standings of the terminal that he is supposed to be in charge of. We remember that this official took extreme umbrage at the first bad review posted by the site.
Of course, for the people who have seen the spanking news airports of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul (just to mention a few nearby) will know that mere palliative measures will not fix NAIA.
Ninoy Aquino must feel that perhaps he should have died somewhere else.
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