CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines (PNA) -– Officials of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) said they are working “double time” to upgrade the status of Philippine airports to Category 1 from Category 2 as ordered by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.

MCIAA General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete said there is much that needs to be done to revert the Mactan-Cebu International airport’s status to Category 1.

He said most of these are special concerns of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

Most of these concerns refer to legal and institutional reforms, such as upgrading in terms of database management and recording, as well as airport personnel professionalization.

Villarete has just arrived from a seminar and training on airport management, security and safety at Inchon International Airport in South Korea, together with five other MCIAA and Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) officials.

Aside from Villarete, the South Korean aviation seminar was also attended by Engr. Pericles Dakay, who chairs the MCIAA committee on strategic planning and development, Undersecretaries Aristotle Batuhan and Ruben Reinoso of the DoTC, DoTC legal director Dickson Berberabe, and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) general manager Jose Angel Honrado.

He said being in Category 2 status is detrimental to tourism and foreign affairs dealings because most developed countries will advise their air carriers to refrain from traveling to these areas.