DOTC urges foreign airlines to transfer to NAIA 3

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is urging foreign airlines to transfer to Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA3) scheduled to be completed in July.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the government is urging foreign airlines to relocate to NAIA 3 from the congested NAIA 1.

Abaya pointed out that the P1.9-billion rehabilitation of NAIA 3 being undertaken by Takenaka Corp. of Japan is expected to be completed ahead of the schedule in August.

“We might be ready to receive them some time April or May but they are asking for one year to fix their lounges. We are offering the use of government lounges so they could transfer,” Abaya said in his speech during the induction of officers of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) late Thursday.

Abaya said the government is talking to major foreign airlines including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Delta Airlines and Emirates, among others.

The rehabilitation works at NAIA 3 include baggage handling, flight information displays, computer terminals, gate coordination and fire protection systems, among others, to allow a faster and more pleasant experience for passengers flying in and out of Manila.

On the other hand, Abaya said the P1.3-billion rehabilitation of NAIA 1 being undertaken by construction giant DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI) that started last month is scheduled to be completed in January next year in time for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The project involves the structural retrofitting, improvement of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection facilities as well as architectural works of the decades-old terminal building.

“The rehabilitation works for Terminal 1 started last month and should be completed by January in 2015 in time for the APEC Summit. We are also currently testing and installing new equipment at Terminal 3 in order to make it fully operational by the latter half of this year, since only about half of the building is operational now,” he said.

Abaya said the objective of the rehabilitation of both terminals is to bring NAIA 1 back to its design capacity of around four to 4.5 million from the current seven to eight million.

“By then, we could already transfer some international airlines from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, which will make way for a less crowded Terminal 1,” he said.

Latest data from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) showed the number of domestic and international passengers increased 3.1 percent to 32.865 million last year from 31.877 million in 2012.

The number of arriving and departing domestic passengers at NAIA slipped slightly to 17.689 million from 17.738 million because of several flight cancellations due to bad weather highlighted by Super Typhoon Yolanda that battered Eastern Visayas last Nov. 8.

On the other hand, international passenger traffic reached 15.176 million last year or 7.3 percent higher compared to 14.139 million in 2012 as the number of international flights increased 9.9 percent to 87,629 from 79,685.

Wall St. Cheat Sheet, a US financial media company, has ranked NAIA eighth among the 10 Worst Airports in the World, citing overcapacity issues in Terminals 1 and 3.