NAIA operator scraps Terminal 4 rehab

MANILA, Philippines — Passengers have to wait longer before the Ninoy Aquino International Airport returns to operating with four terminals as the planned renovation of NAIA Terminal 4 will no longer push through.

Private operator New NAIA Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC) is abandoning its initial plan to rebuild Terminal 4, to focus on the construction of Terminal 5 on the former site of the Philippine Village Hotel.

Instead, NNIC is repurposing the former location of Terminal 4 as a parking area for aircraft, as the country’s main gateway prepares for the entry of more airlines over the next 12 months.

“True, there will no longer be a Terminal 4. It will be used to park aircraft,” a source privy to the matter told The STAR.

NAIA regulator Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is yet to be informed of NNIC’s desire to abandon Terminal 4 as a passenger facility.

MIAA general manager Eric Jose Ines said what he knows is that NNIC has made revisions to its original plan for the terminal.

“I am hearing that there will be some changes in the plan for Terminal 4 lately, but I am not sure as we have not received any official notice yet from NNIC,” Ines said.

As regulator, MIAA has started reviewing the P170.6-billion concession with NNIC to confirm if the operator is authorized to carry out a massive repurposing of an airport asset.

Terminal 4 had played a critical role in decongesting passenger traffic and aircraft movement in the other terminals when it was still open.

At its peak, Terminal 4 handled 5.74 million passengers and 49,536 flights in 2019. The terminal also facilitated 7.61 million guests and 77,868 flights between March 2022 and November 2024, before its demolition.

Originally, NNIC had committed to build a larger Terminal 4, set for completion in mid-2026.

To date, NNIC is prioritizing the development of Terminal 5 to improve NAIA’s capacity to meet future demand.

NNIC, led by San Miguel Corp., is undertaking the P170.6-billion rehabilitation of NAIA, with a mandate to increase passenger capacity to 62 million per annum and expedite aircraft movement to 48 an hour.

NNIC, PAL ink deal

Meanwhile, NAIA has signed its first deal with an airline outlining key performance indicators (KPIs) to improve operational efficiency.

NNIC yesterday signed an airport use agreement (AUA) with PAL to set up KPIs for both parties.

The agreement aims to harmonize PAL’s operations with NNIC services to help the operator achieve its targets in the P170.6-billion concession in NAIA.

NNIC president and CEO Ramon Ang said the AUA lists the operator’s expectations of PAL and vice versa, giving both a clear picture of how they could synchronize movements in NAIA.

Ang said the AUA is critical to enhancing NAIA’s efficiency and minimizing flight delays. –  Rudy Santos