Palace mulls 3 options on Phl airport system

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is carefully studying three options including the possibility of shutting down and selling the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to reach a decision on whether the Philippines will adopt a single or twin airport system.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told members of the Makati Business Club during their general membership meeting yesterday at the Hotel Inter-Continental Manila in Makati City that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has forwarded to President Aquino three proposals on the airport system for approval.

Abaya said the first option involves a single airport system wherein the government would shut down and sell the NAIA and develop the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.

The second option, he said, involves a twin or dual system wherein the government would develop Clark and at the same time maximize the operations of NAIA until 2025 but at the same time look for an alternative site for a new airport that would be 25 kilometers or 30 minutes away from the existing gateway.

The DOTC chief said the third option also involves a twin or dual system wherein the government would jointly develop Clark and NAIA and then decide whether or not to put up an alternative airport.

 â€œPreviously, the direction was to move all NAIA’s current operations to Clark International Airport within the next five to seven years. What is clear now is that we need Clark to absorb some of the traffic in NAIA. Even if initially, it seems more cost efficient to have a single main gateway, there are dual airport systems existing around the world that actually perform well commercially,” he said in his speech.

He said the agency is looking at ways to further increase the capacity of the old NAIA airport to 60 events or landings and take offs per hour from the average 40 events per hour.

He added that there is no available land to further extend the runway of NAIA or put up a new terminal as it is surrounded by subdivisions and commercial areas.

Abaya pointed out that Cabinet secretaries are leaning towards the second option jointly developing NAIA and Clark and at the same time looking for a site for a new international gateway that may involve the reclamation of Laguna de Bay or Manila Bay as well as the Sangley airport in Cavite.

 â€œWe will be seeking approval from the President to aggressively expand and promote Clark while at the same time continuing the ongoing improvements and upgrades that will maximize NAIA’s capacity. The studies we’ve been doing show that both can operate at the same time without compromising commercial viability,” he added.

The Clark International Airport Corp. is set to complete the expansion of the existing terminal in the gateway in Pampanga worth P360 million by October to double the capacity to five million passengers from 2.5 million and is looking at putting up a new P12 billion budget passenger terminal.