NAIA voted world's worst airport for 2011

MANILA, Philippines - The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) topped this year’s poll for the world’s worst airport because of poor facilities, security concerns and bribery, according to a travel website.

“The Guide to Sleeping in Airports” said travelers should “forget about sleeping in this airport! You will not want to even close your eyes here. Bribery and theft exists.”

Last year, NAIA was voted the worst airport in Asia and the fifth worst in the world. It was the seventh worst airport in the world in 2009, according to the website.

The website, which based the results on submissions by readers and information provided by airports, said NAIA’s Terminal 1 is in “bad shape” and noted that airport officials “actually had to promise” to clean NAIA-1’s toilets and provide running water and soap. Part of the terminal’s ceiling also caved in last May.

“Airport taxes are collected, but the money does not seem to go toward the betterment of the airport,” the website said, adding that “document holders have been told their papers are not correct, but a fee of x amount should clear up the matter.”

The website said NAIA Terminal 3 “is clean, spacious and one can find an Internet connection,” but is “structurally flawed.”

The NAIA terminals are lacking services such as left luggage and pay-in lounges for transit passengers, the website said.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Honrado said he respects the observations made by the website but asked travelers to see for themselves the improvements made to NAIA-1, which now has running water. He said they should understand that renovating a 30-year-old terminal is not easy.