Manila airport inspected

Manila airport inspected

MANILA (AFP): A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mission will arrive in the Philippines to assess if safety standards at the country's main international airport meets its standards, aviation officials said here Saturday.

The team, which will arrive on Sunday, will examine radar and navigational systems as well as other safety systems at the airport in a review which could determine whether it will be taken off the FAA list of unsafe airports.

An FAA team earlier this month certified that the airport met its standards as far as security was concerned, after the introduction of new anti-terrorism measures at the airport.

The FAA, in 1995 downgraded the Manila airport from its "Category I" rating of safe airports after they found inadequacies in both the security and safety conditions.

Under this standard, U.S. nationals flying to the Philippines are warned that the airport is unsafe.