GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/03 July) – Airport authorities are planning to raise the terminal fee at the city airport here to P150 to cope with mounting operational costs and development requirements.
Allan Punay, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) manager here, said they have asked the CAAP board to increase the current P40 terminal fee per departing passenger to allow the airport to sustain its own operations and fund the improvement of its facilities.
“The P40 terminal fee has not increased for the last 15 years so we deem it proper to make the necessary adjustments now,” he said in an interview over a local television station.
Punay said the increase in terminal fee will help the airport management address the needed developments and improvements at the facility, among them its unstable air-conditioning system.
The city airport’s main terminal, which opened in 1996, underwent major repairs and improvements last year but the project was not completed due to problems with its contractor.
Based on CAAP’s records, the city airport posted a total income of around P25 million last year based on its terminal fee collections and other charges levied to airline companies and its tenant stores.[]
But the airport’s total operational expenses last year reached around P28 million, making its operations partly subsidized by the agency.[]
