Scenes at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on March 13, 2020, 2 days before the imposition of a travel ban to and from Metro Manila as part of the declared "Community Quarantine" of the country's capital. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA - Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said Friday he ordered airport authorities to extend rental holidays for concessionaires until end of April and the deferment of fee collections until May 2020 to cushion the impact of COVID-19.
The directive is "immediately executory," the Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The order covers all concessionaires leasing spaces in airports under the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), and Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), the DOTr said.
"As our aviation and airports sector has been hardly-hit by this COVID-19 pandemic, following the decreasing number of passengers, and flights -- this extension of rental holidays, and deferment of rental charges would ease the burden of paying fees for our airport concessionaires," Tugade said.
Aviation is one of the hardest hit sectors by the pandemic as global travel restrictions cut demand for local and international flights.
coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 update, COVID-19 pandemic, transport, aviation, rental holiday, airport leasing