24 September 2021
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has opened the ₱959 million new General Santos International Airport Passenger Terminal building (PTB) capable of handling two million passengers per annum yesterday, and is expediting completion of CIQ facilities for the inclusion of the newly rehabilitated and expanded airport terminal as among the alternate quarantine gateways for returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and international travelers.
DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade led the formal unveiling and inauguration of the city airport’s new passenger terminal building and other navigational facilities.
He said Philippine Airlines and some middle east airlines has been requesting the Philippine government to open General Santos international airport as quarantine gateway from airline passengers coming in from the Middle East.
Tugade said the proposal to increase daily quarantine capacity for returning OFWs to 4,000 daily is already with the National Task Force of the IATF for their consideration.
The daily limit for returning OFWs is currently peg at 3,500 returning Filipinos with Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) accounting for 2,000 passengers, while Cebu, Davao, Clark and Subic is taking 1,500.
“If we will increase the cap, we need to expand our gateways and not limit them to Clark, Cebu, and NAIA. We can include GenSan among the gateways for travelers from Doha who are going to Manila,” he said in a press conference.
According to Tugade, other possible alternate gateways proposed are Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte, Zamboanga, Iloilo and the Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
But these airports are not capable of handling wide-body planes that PAL and middle eastern airlines used to transport passengers. Only General Santos fits the bill as the only other airport capable of accommodating bigger aircraft like Boeing 777 and 747, as well as Airbus A330, A340, and A350.
Tugade said the passenger terminal area has tripled in size from 4,000 to 12,000 square meters and can now accommodate around 2 million passengers annually, a significant jump from the previous 800,000 per year.
“This will allow the airport to accommodate more passengers and provide them comfortable and convenient travel,” he said.
The Transport Chief added that additional improvement will be made next year as they upgrade its air control tower, which he considered as “too low.”
He said they will build a “higher and modernized” tower in 2022 to make it “more world-class” and can easily adjust to the needs of the airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment