Status quo for NAIA upon takeover

With the scheduled turnover of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the SMC-led New NAIA Infrastructure Corp. by Saturday this week, incoming NNIC general manager Angelito Alvarez is assuring the public that a “status quo” and “business as usual” will be maintained so as not to disrupt operations, as changes will be made “gradually and methodically.”

But right off the bat, NNIC already faces some problems with its planned expansion of Terminal 2, specifically with the takeover and demolition of the 50-year-old Philippine Village Hotel that was designed by National Artist Juan Nakpil in the 1970s and built in 1974, which can technically be considered a national heritage landmark.

Alvarez admitted that “the PVH demolition faces a lot of problems.” The hotel was built in the 1970s as part of the then-upcoming hosting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings during the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

The hotel was built on land owned by the Manila International Airport Authority by the Enriquez-Panlilio family using funds loaned from the Government Service Insurance System.

Due to financial disputes involving non-payment of taxes, the GSIS (after a decade-long, prolonged legal battle) was eventually able to secure the property in November 2023.

Alvarez expressed confidence that “the problem can be resolved,” admitting that the NNIC would need to get clearance from the government to condemn the building and pave the way for its demolition.

Thus, the timetable for the expansion of T2 will take anywhere from four to five years, according to Alvarez.

Terminal reassignments

Another issue that NNIC faces is the request for further consultations with some of the airlines that will be affected by another terminal reassignment that the new airport operator plans to implement.

According to Alvarez, T1 will be reassigned exclusively for Philippine Airlines’ international flights. T2 will be designated for domestic flights of both PAL and Cebu Pacific, while T3 will accommodate all international flights of other airlines, including those of CebuPac and AirAsia.

T4 will still be maintained and will accommodate the domestic flights of AirAsia and other boutique airlines.

PAL president Capt. Stanley Ng expressed willingness to work with NNIC “on whichever is the most efficient.” He added, though, that “we just need to discuss the pros and cons of the transfer to a terminal and the most reasonable time to transfer.”

CebuPac president and chief commercial officer Xander Lao suggested that the reassignment of terminal assignments should be done after the upcoming holiday season so as not to unduly affect passengers, and that a consultation should take at least a year.

Ricky Isla, CEO of AirAsia Philippines, expressed concern about the reassignment of their domestic flight operations out of T4, specifically noting that the volume of their passengers would likely exceed the limited capacity of T4, which also accommodates boutique airlines.

However, the reassignment of terminals will also involve the transfer of operations of turboprop aircraft serving domestic island destinations to Clark International Airport to decongest NAIA. The transfer is expected to disrupt tourism because of the added inconvenience and cost of having to endure a two-hour trip to Pampanga, especially for international tourists.

Staff changes, Alvarez said, will also likely take some time during the initial three months to one year, as around 500 employees of NAIA will still be processed for possible absorption by NNIC. There is also the issue of their retirement compensation from the government.

In a presentation on Monday to members and guests of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) during its Aviation Forum co-sponsored by San Miguel Corp. at the Makati Diamond Residences, Alvarez outlined the immediate initiatives and benefits that the public could expect within the first three to 12 months.

These include new toilets and refurbishment of existing comfort rooms, additional seating capacity for passengers, installation of additional air conditioning units as well as refurbishing existing ones, provision of 10 gigabytes of high-speed internet at five mbps, additional UPS, gensets, and batteries to ensure backup supply, repair of existing walkalators, escalators and elevators, upgrade of X-ray machines, road expansion for airport accessibility, ensuring a more organized ground transport network and services, and gradual reassignment to different terminals.

It was also revealed by SMC chairman and CEO Ramon Ang that NNIC is working closely with Meralco to address the power needs of the airport, as it turns out that a Meralco substation built specifically for the airport is also being utilized by Andrew Tan’s Newport World Resorts.

Meralco, Ang said, has agreed to build a new substation that will solely serve the airport and avoid any unwanted power outages that NAIA has experienced in the past.

What will take longer to address, and for which the NNIC has allotted a four- to five-year timetable, is increasing the capacity of NAIA to accommodate up to 62 million passengers from its current capacity of 32 million, which by the end of this year is already projected to hit 51 million passengers.

The additional capacity will be addressed by the construction and expansion of T2 (which involves the PVH demolition) and the connection of T3 to the planned Metro Manila Subway, which is also under construction but likewise faces its own right-of-way problems.

Idol Jerome

The EJAP Aviation Forum was a huge success with SMC chief Ramon Ang, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Tourism Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso, NNIC general manager Angelito Alvarez, PAL president Capt. Stanley Ng, PAL EVP Carlu Fernandez, CebuPac president Xander Lao and AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla attending the forum.

Ramon Ang even fondly greeted current EJAP president Jerome Morales of Reuters as “idol,” teasing him that “asenso ka na,” or roughly, “you’ve succeeded.”

Mr. Ang was so relaxed with all the journalists surrounding him, accommodating all requests for interviews and answering some of the recent criticisms regarding his two other airport projects, prompting him to assure stakeholders that he will just concentrate on the three airport projects that he already has.