Davao international airport increases rates

DAVAO CITY – Passenger and cargo terminal fees will be increased by over 200 percent within the next two months at the state-of-the-art international airport in Davao.

The existing P40 per person terminal fee will be raised to P200 similar to the rates slapped at the Manila and Cebu International Airports.

Likewise, fees charged on air carriers will also be increased, including the bridges or tube fees, from the present $35 per hour.

According to Davao International Airport area manager Frederick G. San Felix, the mandatory public hearings have been conducted and concluded. The application for rate hikes in the various fees and charges have already been forwarded with the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in Manila.

"The present fees and charges were based on the 1999 conditions," San Felix said, adding that the new rates plus the positive growth in passenger and freight traffic will allow them to pay their loans on schedule, starting 2008.

Net income hit a record P119 million last year, and airport officials believe that the rate hike will increase its earnings well ahead of the repayment period. Income reached a modest P92 million in 2004 and P86 million in 2003.

The total project cost of the airport reached $128 million from an original estimate of $105 million. "The increase was due to the weakening of peso to the dollar as the project was supposed to have started in 1999. Delays in the construction included right-of-way (ROW) issues," the airport official said.

Assistant manager and project director Jose Sadam explained that of the total project cost, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) contributed a $41-million loan, another 25 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the balance as counterpart financing from the national government.

The ADB had also allocated $93 million in loans for another six airports in southern Philippines. The 3rd Airports Development Project loan was designed to help expand and modernize civil aviation infrastructure to international standards at two regional and four domestic airports at Puerto Princesa, Cotabato, Sang Sang, Dipolog, Butuan and Pagadian.

The total projected cost is $167 million, with another $29 million from the EIB as co-financing. The ADB loan has a repayment period of 25 years plus a grace period of five years.

The Davao International Airport accommodated over a record 1.1 million out- and inbound passengers last year. In its last full year of operation, the old airport terminal accommodated a little over 900,000 passengers.

The new airport was designed to comfortably accommodate up to three million passengers at a given time.

Cargo volume reached over 40,000 tons or a slight drop from the 43,700 tons the previous year. Record freight volume was registered in 2001 of a little over 45,000 tons. Full capacity of the new airport is up to 84,600 tons.