Terminal fees at Philippine airports

What the terminal fee is

The terminal fee is the common name for the passenger service charge, or PSC. It applies only to departing passengers and is collected once per journey ². Airports use the money for operations and passenger services ².

The PSC is not the travel tax. The travel tax is a separate charge with its own rules and exemptions. The PSC goes to the airport operator or to CAAP, depending on who runs the airport ^3,1.

CAAP rules say a passenger who refuses or fails to pay the PSC will be kept from boarding the aircraft ⁵.

How the fee ended up inside your ticket

Passengers once paid the terminal fee in cash at a counter before security. Most airports now have airlines collect it in the ticket price. PortCalls reported in November 2020 that NAIA and Mactan-Cebu had built the domestic fee into tickets since 2013, and that NAIA added the international fee in 2017 ⁶.

A Philippine Embassy advisory gives an earlier date for NAIA. It says the international fee was folded into ticket prices from 1 November 2014 ⁷. The two sources do not agree, and we show both dates here.

Mactan-Cebu added the international fee to tickets on 1 September 2019 ⁸. Clark moved both fees into tickets from 1 January 2021 ⁶. For CAAP airports, the new April 2025 rates applied to tickets bought on or after 21 April 2025. Tickets bought before that date kept the old rate ³.

Terminal fees by airport

The table shows the latest figures we could find in official or press sources, with the date each figure applies. Some private airports do not publish a current rate page, so a few figures come from a press comparison table published in September 2025 ².

Who sets the rates

At NAIA the rates come from MIAA Administrative Order No. 1, Series of 2024. Context.ph reported that the Department of Transportation and the Cabinet approved it, and that the Asian Development Bank reviewed it ¹⁰. NNIC collects the charge as the private operator ¹.

At airports CAAP runs, the CAAP Board sets the PSC. Its Memorandum Circular 019-2025 raised the rates from 21 April 2025, the first change in nearly two decades ³. CAAP said the international rate rose from ₱784 inclusive of tax ³. BusinessWorld reported the old rate as ₱550 ⁵. The sources differ, so both are shown.

At Clark the operator, Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD), applies for changes under its concession agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority ⁹.

The April 2026 cut at CAAP airports

The Department of Transportation ordered lower fees at CAAP airports to offset higher jet fuel costs. From 1 April 2026 the international PSC at CAAP international airports fell from ₱900 to ₱700. The domestic PSC at the same airports fell from ₱350 to between ₱150 and ₱200 ^4,11.

Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the cut would run for three months, subject to review ¹¹. The order did not cover privately run airports in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Panglao ¹². We could not confirm from an official source whether the cut was extended past early July 2026.

Who does not pay, and how refunds work

At CAAP airports, children under two, transit passengers, passengers denied entry and OFWs on international flights are exempt ⁵. NNIC said OFWs stay fully exempt from the international PSC at NAIA under the new rates ².

If an exempt passenger paid the fee inside a ticket, the money can be claimed back. An embassy advisory on NAIA says refunds are paid at the airport after immigration or at the MIAA Administration Building collection office. OFWs bring the airport copy of the Overseas Employment Certificate, proof of payment and the boarding pass ⁷. Clark accepts refund claims within one year of the flight, at its counter or online ⁹.