WebClick Tracer

LEADERBOARD AD

Connect with your audience through trusted journalism.

Support Journalism

JOURNALISM

LEADERBOARD AD

City Council sets probe on state of Davao airport

|  April 19, 2024 - 2:28 pm

19davao5 e1610615118130
Davao International Airport. MindaNews file photo by MANMAN DEJETO

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 19 April) – A city councilor confirmed they will start an investigation on complaints about the facilities at Francisco Bangoy International Airport, also known as Davao International Airport (DIA) by Tuesday, April 23.

Jesus Zozobrado, majority floor leader, said they will invite officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), among other “key officials”.[]


“We will see by Tuesday, we will see if [the invited officials] will be there,” Zozobrado told reporters Thursday morning.

The city government has called out CAAP to improve services and facilities at the international airport, following a temporary closure of the runway over the weekend for repairs.

In a statement, the city government said it “continues to receive reports from Dabawenyos and visitors regarding the current condition of the facilities” at the airport and there has been “no significant improvement” despite having “constantly raised these concerns to CAAP”.

Meanwhile, the City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) said they are open to any improvements of the airport.

“As long as it is aligned with the standards, as the promoting arm in the city, the CTOO will support any activity or any program which will help ease up our tourists entering the city… Because it is an airport, innovating it will impact tourists,” Warren Quiñones, CTOO planning section head, told MindaNews Thursday morning.

The CTOO is responsible for enhancing aesthetics of the airport, such as putting up welcome banners, sculpture, and designs.

[]


They also manage the information booth inside the airport.

In a recent report, the Department of Tourism said the DIA recorded a 23.05-percent increase in air tourist arrivals, from 2,664 in January 2023 to 3,278 in January 2024.

DIA contributed 0.58 percent of the national tourism arrivals output.[]


(Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)