Improved e-travel platform seen reducing airport queues

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM

Special to the BusinessMirror

THE new e-travel platform will completely eliminate the need for arriving passengers from abroad to line up in a separate queue for their health check.

T his was confirmed by Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval in a Viber message to the BusinessMirror . “It’s [etravel platform] automatically integrated with the BOQ [Bureau of

Quarantine]. Starting May 1, passengers can go straight to the Immigration counters.”

T here may be instances though that the arriving passengers will be referred to the BOQ, she said, “if the system shows a red QR code, i.e. they did not fill out the e-travel form.”

B OQ Director Dr. Roberto Sandoval added, “Now the arriving passengers just have to pass the thermal scanner, then go straight to Immigration. If their e-travel form isn’t complete, they will have to return to BOQ for us to assist them.”

He also said the BOQ has thermal scanners in “every gate” at all international airports in the country.

New Immigration officers

THE latest iteration of government’s e-travel platform eliminates the need for paper embarkation and disembarkation cards. Departing and arriving passengers by sea or by air should register on the e-travel page not earlier than 72 hours before their scheduled arrival in or departure from the Philippines. For depart- ing passengers, their registration should be at the most, three hours prior to their schedule flight out of the country.

Sandoval also announced the appointment of 147 new Immigration officers, which could help beef up their counters at international airports and seaports. The long departure and arrival queues at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) have been blamed on the insufficient number of Immigration officers attending to passengers.

At the arrival areas, there are also very few e-passport gates: just five at Naia Terminal 1, five at Naia 3, and three at Naia 2. The three at Naia 2 will soon be transferred to Naia 3, with Naia 2 being converted to an all-domestic passenger terminal starting July 1.

M eanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) tried to address the possible inconvenience that will be experienced by passengers of Philippines Air Asia, whose domestic operations will be moved to Naia 2, while their international operations remain at Naia 3.

‘No favoritism’ in terminal assignments

IN a recent interview at Teleradyo’s SRO, MIAA senior assistant general manager Bryan Co said in a mix of Filipino and English, “[The transfer to Naia 2] will benefit the most passengers of Philippines Air Asia, because as of now, a lot of them are in terminal 4, which is very congested. So by July 1, we expect that we will be able to deliver a better level of service for passengers of Air Asia and Royal Air [Philippines].”

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