RSA to deliver more than agreed

A lot of exciting changes are in store for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as Ramon S. Ang has assured President Marcos that he will build a “bigger and better” Terminal 2 than what the SMC SAP and Co. Consortium has agreed to in its winning bid, at no additional cost to the Philippine government.

According to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, the President had met with RSA “a couple of months ago” to update the President on his plans for the NAIA rehabilitation, as well as for the delivery of at least two operational runways for the Bulacan International Airport before the President’s term ends in 2028.

Bautista (who was present in the meeting with the President) revealed that RSA informed the President that contrary to speculations that work on the Bulacan airport would likely slow down while the SMC-led Consortium rehabilitates NAIA, work on the Bulacan airport is proceeding “full blast in terms of land development.”

RSA confidently told the President that they would be able to operate two runways before the end of the term of the President, Bautista said.

The DOTr Secretary pointed out that based on the government’s calculations, the projected 62-million passenger capacity of NAIA in a short five years would already be used even as NAIA capacity is already hitting 150,000 passengers a day for all four terminals.

Pre-pandemic, the capacity was already at 135,000 to 145,000 passengers, but this went down when the COVID pandemic hit. By June 2022, Bautista said, capacity had increased to around 110,000 to 150,000 a day.

All four terminals were designed to accommodate 32 million passengers, Bautista said, but actual usage is already hitting 50-million capacity that results in congestion and complaints from travelers that the airport’s air conditioning facility is warm and inadequate.

“It’s all full na, so we really need to open Bulacan... so we told SMC not to slow down construction of Bulacan,” Bautista said.

RSA, however, in a recent interview admitted encountering a sand shortage problem for the land filling activities of the Bulacan airport.

Furthermore, the DOTr chief explained, while some are speculating about a delay in the Bulacan airport project, “there can be no delay because there is also a penalty involved…so no incentive to delay the Bulacan project.”

PVH, T4, private hangars for demolition

Part of plans for the NAIA rehabilitation is the expansion of Terminal 2, which was previously used exclusively by Philippine Airlines but is now used as the domestic terminal even as Cebu Pacific continues to operate its domestic flights out of Terminal 3.

The plan of RSA, however, Bautista said, is to build a bigger and better T2 than what was agreed in the contract without any additional cost to the government. The planned expansion would eventually consolidate all domestic flights in T2, including those of Cebu Pacific so that operations of Terminal 3 would be for other international flights.

The expansion of T2 would involve the demolition of the old Philippine Village Hotel (PVH). The building is actually owned by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) but the land belongs to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

The GSIS has already given its consent to demolish the structure, according to GSIS president Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso. GSIS’s ownership of the PVH structure is due to the loan it extended to the Panlilio family that used to operate the PVH.

Plans for T2, RSA told the President, would involve adding more seats so that it will provide “a more comfortable travel experience.”

Bautista further divulged that RSA’s team is undertaking a review with regard to the food concessionaires as they want “to have a food court to showcase Filipino cuisine.”

RSA’s daughter, Cecile, personally visits NAIA everyday to check on what needs further improvement.

Likewise, to maximize the runways and taxiing capacity of NAIA, SMC plans to demolish the private hangars at the end of Runway 13/31, as well as Terminal 4 which is a private facility.

SMC, Bautista said, “is thinking of removing some of the hangars para humaba ang runaway... so that they have more flights using that runway...which will increase the capacity of the runways from 38 movements per hour to 48 movements per hour, or (at least) a 20 percent increase.”

To also be affected, Bautista said, is Terminal 4 (a private facility). “The problem is the end of the runway, if an airplane is parked there, the runway is cut short…T4 is for private airplanes...if we remove T4, it will improve utilization of Runway 13/31… we can transfer it to other areas…we are working with them…objective is to increase efficiency of the present infrastructure.”

NAIA, according to Secretary Bautista, has two runways. The main runway is 06/24. Unfortunately, he admitted, “we cannot extend it anymore. We are fixing it.” He said they are improving the “bearing strength...it is being improved, old na ilalim, we need to fix that part.”

What is completely out of the plan though is for an underground baggage handling facility as it would be “too costly,” Bautista said.

Rotunda to be reduced

Secretary Bautista further shared that RSA has also identified areas that need fixing, such as the need to provide more parking, “increasing by four times the capacity” of the available parking area.

Bautista cited one airport parking facility across Newport World Resorts and the church that is supposed to accommodate those going to the airport. Unfortunately, the parking facility it turns out is being used more by those going to the casino because of the cheap parking rates. “It needs to be exclusive to the airport and we need to increase the rates also… a four times increase.”

Additionally, access to the parking facility is problematic and has resulted in traffic. SMC, Bautista said plans to widen the road which will necessitate the reduction of the rotunda, and improve the road network so the area can be used more efficiently.