The new management of Ninoy Aquino International Airport is clearly wasting no time in showing the traveling public who’s boss. Barely over half a month after the takeover, New NAIA Infra Corporation has just made its presence felt with a major revision to the airport’s parking rates.

Strangely, NNIC hasn’t posted anything on its official channels as of this writing. But a scanned memo detailing the changes has been causing a stir on social media. It seems legitimate, so customers should expect the following fees:

Cars

• P50 for the first two hours
• P25 for each succeeding hour or a fraction of it
• P1,200 for every 24 hours

Motorcycles 

• P20 for the first two hours
• P10 for each succeeding hour or a fraction of it
• P480 for every 24 hours

Buses

• P100 for the first two hours
• P50 for each succeeding hour or a fraction of it
• P2,400 for every 24 hours

This is a substantial increase from the rates two years ago, which will surely be unwelcome news for passengers. Also taking a significant financial hit are airline employees who park their vehicles at the premises for several days during long work deployments.

Although more expensive parking might encourage commuting or active transport, it’s not like NAIA has a lot of options. Bus routes to and from the airport are few and far between. Passengers face long queues for taxis and rideshare services. Let’s also not forget the traffic jams that frequently plague the departure and arrival concourses.

There is also the not-so-small issue of safety within NAIA’s parking lots. A few months ago, 19 cars met their fiery demise at an open-air car park beside Terminal 3. While the hot grass surface is a contributing factor to the fire, the ability of emergency services to respond to a similar incident comes into scrutiny given the increased parking fees.

At the end of the day, there is no replacing NAIA for much of air travel in the Philippines. Unless we can find spare change to buy a private jet just like Max Verstappen, we are reluctantly at the mercy of whatever NNIC wants to do with the airport.