NAIA-3 all set for Dec. 15 opening

It is ready for takeoff.

The ultra-modern Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 has been declared ready for operations beginning Dec. 15 after a walk-through inspection and dry run of its facilities yesterday.

The four-hour dry run was witnessed by officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Department of Tourism (DOT), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), airline representatives and the media.

Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon were ordered by President Arroyo to supervise and oversee the preparations for the opening of the new international passenger terminal, NAIA Terminal 3 general manager Guillermo Cunanan said.

Cunanan said the DOT is launching a year-long tourism campaign dubbed "Visit the Philippines Year 2003" sponsored by the World Tourism Organization. This drive, he added, requires modern airport facilities to accommodate the expected influx of tourists.

Officials of the NAIA Terminal 3’s general contractor, the Takenaka Corp., said the dry run has impressed government officials with the completeness of the facility — including inspections of the terminal’s air-conditioning and lighting facilities, elevators, escalators, moving walkways and other major amenities.

Takenaka project manager Daisuke Fukamuchi expressed strong confidence that the government would issue a completion certificate that will signal the start of full operations at the terminal.

Officials of the terminal contractor, the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco), said the NAIA-3 was built according to a master plan drawn up by the Aeroport de Paris in 1990 at the behest of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to study the need for a modern airport terminal that will handle the increasing demand for air transportation to and from the Philippines.

Once it is fully operational, the 183,000 square-meter NAIA-3 complex will boast of 20,000 square meters of shop space in a multilevel mall, 140 check-in counters, 118 immigration and 40 Customs counters, 20 escalators, 29 elevators, nine moving walkways and two car parks that can accommodate up to over 2,000 vehicles.

Takenaka will turn the airport facility over to Piatco sometime next week, Takenaka general manager Toshio Hori and mechanical and electrical construction engineer John Appleton said yesterday.

The new airport terminal is designed to handle 13 million passengers annually or a daily average of 33,000.

Piatco treasurer Vic Cheng Yong told reporters the new terminal will prove to the world that Filipinos are capable of constructing modern and complex structures that are as good as those made in the rest of the world.

Yong also said the government stands to earn P710 million in guaranteed payments annually once the new air terminal begins operation. During the construction of the terminal, the government made P300 million in annual payments for a token fee of P1.

Under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme, the airport terminal will be turned over by Piatco to the government after 25 years.

In addition to the guaranteed gross annual payments, Piatco will pay the government five to 10 percent of the airport’s gross revenue. Piatco is also obligated to deliver to government 36 percent of all terminal fee collections.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and Muslim pilgrims will be exempted from paying the terminal fee.

The families and friends of those arriving at or leaving from NAIA Terminal 3 will be given access to the terminal building itself, where they will be able to relax in lobbies and coffee shops, shop in retail stores and have send-off parties at restaurants that will be housed within the terminal.

State-of-the-art security apparatus have also been installed to guarantee the safety of passengers, well-wishers and terminal workers.

NAIA-3 was built by the Piatco consortium composed of Philippine Airport and Ground Services Terminals Inc., Germany’s Fraport AG Frankfurt Services Worldwide, People’s Air Cargo and Warehousing, SB Airport Investments, Japanese firms Takenaka and Nissho Iwai Corp.