Weeks ago there was a fatal incident involving a motorist who plowed into well-wishers and passengers at NAIA Terminal 1. It was revealed. I finally had the chance to see the area for myself. I had not gone to Terminal 1 in a long while and especially after San Miguel Corporation had taken over the airport. The photos shared below were taken by my wife as we eased into the departure driveway of NAIA T1 one early morning last week.

Arriving at the west wing of the departure level of Terminal 1. Those are luggage carts lined up along the sidewalk. There are cones for the restricted area but these turned out to be to block vehicles from using the inner lane adjacent to the terminal.

West wing entrance of Terminal 1 – unlike Terminals 2 and 3, there is really no area for well-wishers. Note the bollards that are supposed to protect people from errant vehicles. We now know these were not built or installed to the required specifications for protection.

Vehicles are now parked parallel along the center of the driveway. Previously they were angled facing the terminal.

In terms of the space available, this significantly reduces the number of vehicles that can park to drop off passengers at the departure driveway.

Screenshot from Google Maps showing the previous layout of the drop-off parking. Note the vehicles pointing towards the terminal. 

Passengers unloading their luggage behind the vehicles. There are markings for the vehicle slot but most just park parallel where space is available at the center of the driveway.

There is a buffer zone between the inner driveway lane and the drop-off lane. There were no vehicles using the inner lane but you can see in the photo that there are also curbside slots. Perhaps these are used during the busier times at the terminal?

Other passengers were also taking photos as their luggage were being unloaded from their vehicles. 

This is where the fatal crash occurred. It seems the damage has been repaired and quickly and its business as usual at the airport.

NAIA authorities should already start retrofitting or reinstalling the bollards at the terminal. This would ensure the safety of passengers vs. vehicles that may or may not be under the control of their drivers. The effort to quickly address the concern is much appreciated but a long term solution needs to be implemented to prevent future crashes from occurring here and at other terminals.

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