NAIA-3 opens with dawn flight to Caticlan

MANILA, Philippines – Nine domestic flights of Cebu Pacific, including those from Manila to Boracay, Laoag, Naga City, San Jose (Mindoro), and Tuguegarao, took off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 yesterday.

An ATR 72-500 turbo prop plane ferried the first NAIA-3 passengers from Manila to Caticlan in Aklan at 4:10 a.m.

The leading domestic carrier officially transferred part of its domestic operations to the NAIA-3 yesterday, becoming the first airline to operate in the long-mothballed and controversially built facility.

Lance Gokongwei, president and chief executive officer of Cebu Pacific, expressed excitement over the partial transfer of their domestic operations to the facility, saying it was like going to “heaven” after suffering the congestion and inconvenience of the aging Manila Domestic Airport from where they previously operated all their domestic flights.

“This is a wonderful facility. It is like heaven when we just came from hell,” Gokongwei said. “And I think it’s going to be the same for our passengers.”

“You’ve been to our domestic terminal. It’s a 50- to 60-year-old facility and was built to accommodate perhaps 5,000 guests a day and now it’s taking in more than 15,000 guests a day,” Gokongwei said of the old domestic airport which still remains home to most of their domestic flights.

“We think we’ll do very well in this airport and I guess we’ll enjoy this airport,” Gokongwei told reporters yesterday at the sidelines of the send-off ceremonies held by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) for one of the nine domestic flights of Cebu Pacific that took off from NAIA-3.

Alfonso Cusi, MIAA general manager, expressed satisfaction over the successful start-up operation of the terminal.

“This is the moment. The way to making this start-up operations happen was not easy but we pulled through,” Cusi said.

MIAA had two failed efforts at holding a soft opening of the facility in 2006 and 2007, with the first one being called off when a portion of the terminal’s ceiling at the arrival lobby area collapsed, while the second was cancelled when foreign experts warned against the opening of the facility due to serious structural defects.

After their successful initial operation of nine flights yesterday, Cebu Pacific is set to transfer another five domestic flights to NAIA-3 within the week.

Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and product, said the transfer operations will continue until all their domestic flights operate out of the new terminal.

Next to their domestic operations, Iyog said, will be their international flights, which they currently operate out of the old NAIA Terminal I.

“This will allow us to operate efficiently and give passengers availing of our domestic to international connections a hassle-free experience,” Iyog said.

“Maybe a lot of people will start the day without noticing that airports are practically the windows and the doors to the world, we are bringing the world to the Philippines, and the Philippines to the world through our airports,” added Sen. Richard Gordon, who also attended the soft opening of the terminal.

“After working with Solgen (Agnes) Devanadera, the issue of legal impediment has been addressed, there’s no legal impediment in the opening, so it’s more on the structural defect and some other deficiencies,” said Rep. Danilo Suarez, chairman of the House oversight committee.

“Today, when we opened this airport, we breathed a great sigh of relief and pride because we are now showing that not only because other ASEAN countries have done it, we have been able to do it,” Gordon said.

Cebu Pacific is currently the single largest domestic airline offering the most number of routes, destinations and inter-island connections.

Last year, the 13-year-old air carrier overtook Philippine Airlines as the number one domestic airline in terms of number of passengers, with the feat attributed to its aggressive low-fare offerings.

Gokongwei, for his part, said Cebu Pacific will pursue aggressive expansion plans with the purchase of brand-new aircraft in addition to its current fleet of Airbus A319s, A320s and ATR 72-500s.

“Eight more ATRs are coming in the next year. So our fleet will go to about 31 aircraft by 2012 and about 41 by 2014,” Gokongwei told reporters.

Currently, the airline boasts of the youngest fleet in the Philippines, with 10 A319s, eight A320s, and two ATR 72-500s.

Gokongwei said that they will pursue their growth plans despite the skyrocketing price of fuel, which he admitted was causing “softer” load factors in their flights.

Gokongwei pointed out that their aggressive low-fare campaign was successful in luring more people to fly and travel.

“It’s an elastic market. There’s an impact on the number of guests you carry in the short term. But we believe that as people adjust to the new pricing, the people will come back to traveling,” Gokongwei said. - With Rudy Santos