The super consortium’s promises

Anyone who has ever traveled out of Manila through our airport knows this — going through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is like running the gauntlet. The chaos begins long before you reach the gate, if you do make it through all the snaking lines in time for your flight.

The horror stories are told too often, and yet the more they stay the same.

But now, there’s a tinge of hope that things may actually get better.

The cat is out of the bag and the excitement in the air is almost tangible, at least for those wishing to have a new airport.

Here are some of the promises,  if the government accepts the super consortium’s proposal for the new NAIA – efficiency will increase 20 percent, there will be no government guarantee, they will not ask for a moratorium on the construction of another major airport, and NAIA will become a world-class gateway at par with the world’s best airports.

Does this sound too good to be true? We’ll have to wait and see. If service improves and we indeed wake up one day with a better airport, I sure won’t mind paying a higher terminal fee.

Some of the country’s biggest tycoons are serious about it and sources said they had a successful meeting last Tuesday.

It was to formalize the super consortium for the new NAIA days before the group made an official announcement through separate disclosures at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

My sources said everyone agreed to cooperate – no nasty fights, no bringing each other to court, no cheating. In short, no repeat of the controversial and tedious legal battle that hounded the NAIA Terminal 3.

The whole idea started around October as most of the members of the seven conglomerates realized the urgent need for a new airport. 

At the time, Manila was preparing for the ASEAN Summit.

The seven conglomerates are Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Ayala Corp., Alliance Global, Lucio Tan Group, Filinvest Land Inc., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

One of those who brought the group together is Joey Concepcion, presidential adviser on entrepreneurship although he is not part of the consortium.

He said that each of the seven conglomerates has its own interest in joining the project.  

“Their interest is either the airplane, real estate or malls,” he said.

“Both Lance (Gokongwei) and Michael (Tan) agreed that connectivity is important,” he added.

Ports tycoon Enrique Razon and Tessie Sy-Coson are officially not part of the consortium but they attend the meetings to see how they can help, Concepcion said.

Concepcion said the collective interest really is to open the country to tourism, which could boost the economy by leaps and bounds.

“The motivation really for the airport is to open doors for tourism,” Concepcion said.

Members of the consortium are serious in pushing the project forward.

During Tuesday’s meeting, sources said there were no government officials and that members discussed the proposal they would submit to the government next year.

When it was being conceptualized, members also agreed they would work to move forward.

“No fighting,” said a source.

They also agreed they would not ask for government guarantee and that they would not oppose another airport such as Ramon Ang’s proposed airport in Bulacan.

“There will be no ban on any airport,” the source added.

Indeed, the super consortium said numerous foreign and local experts have highlighted the advantage of having both an in-city airport and another one, outside.

“Like other major cities in the world, experts recommend an in-city airport and another one outside the metropolis to complement it. Megacities that benefit from a two-airport set-up include Tokyo (Haneda and Narita) and London (Gatwick and Heathrow),” it said.

The plan is to upgrade NAIA so it can accommodate an additional 11 million passengers from the current 39.5 million and increase as well the airport’s hourly aircraft landing and take-off movements to 48 per hour from 40 at present.

NAIA, which traces its history to as early as 1948, was built to handle 30 million passengers but is currently handling nearly 39.5 million passengers.

It sounds like a good plan, of course, but I’m sure there is a catch. The conglomerates, being the businesses that they are will make sure they get their investment back. This means prices will increase – from parking to terminal fees.

But what can we do? I’d take anything than the existing congested gateway that we have now.

An overseas Filipino who has worked as an engineer mostly in the Middle East sent me a letter, saying that a world-class NAIA would be good with a modern day subway system that would connect its three terminals and the old domestic airport.

The super consortium sounds really excited, but there are others who may submit bids as well. Let’s wait and see. Whoever wins this beauty contest, I’m hoping that in the end, we do get a world class airport we deserve. 

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected].