BI assures enough personnel for NAIA repatriation flights

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has enough personnel to process passengers of repatriation and sweeper flights at NAIA during the enhanced community quarantine.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente assured stakeholders, including airlines and foreign embassies, that immigration officers are available 24/7 to serve flights.

Special flights are being used to bring home stranded Filipinos, primarily overseas contract workers, and to allow foreign citizens to return to their home countries.

Despite a skeletal workforce, BI officers at NAIA are working in three shifts to ensure all passengers undergo necessary immigration inspections after health screenings.

On Good Friday, over 1,400 Filipino seafarers arrived and were processed by immigration officers.

Philippine Airlines has scheduled additional sweeper flights to London, Canada, and Australia for stranded citizens.

Between March 30 and April 8, NAIA recorded a significant number of arrivals and departures, with the majority of arrivals being Filipinos.

The number of commercial flights at NAIA has been drastically reduced due to the quarantine measures.