NAIA Terminal 2 back as domestic gateway

MANILA, Philippines — The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 (NAIA-2) has reverted to its original design of being a domestic gateway with the completion of airline reassignment.

Starting today, low-cost operators AirAsia Philippines and Royal Air Philippines will fly their domestic trips from NAIA-2 as mandated under the Schedule and Terminal Assignment Rationalization (STAR) pursued by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

In an interview with reporters, AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said yesterday the airline will bring in as many as 9,000 passengers a day to NAIA-2.

In the long run, AirAsia Philippines plans to expand its flight volume from NAIA-2 parallel to its commitment to grow its fleet, Isla said. The local unit of the Malaysian airline will increase its fleet to 21 planes by the end of the year.

Even with the change in terminal, AirAsia Philippines hopes to keep a load factor of 90 percent for its domestic network.

The airline also seeks to maintain an on-time performance of above 90 percent to stay ahead of competitors facing troubles with flight delays.

Upgrade needed

Also yesterday, NAIA-2 manager Sean Joselito Sunga said the entry of new players in the facility signifies the need to upgrade it to meet future requirements.

Sunga said NAIA-2 facilitates the arrival and departure of about 24,000 travelers per day, exceeding its capacity of around 20,000 daily with demand for air travel picking up.

“We are moving forward. We are just trying to handle the other issues (of the airport) right now. However, that remains our target, to expand the terminal,” Sunga said.

NAIA-2 was designed to serve as the domestic gateway of the airport, but had served as the hub of Philippine Airlines (PAL) prior to the terminal reassignment.

Now that it is a domestic terminal, Sunga said the government has moved all of its immigration counters and officers to Terminals 1 and 3.

Under STAR, MIAA reorganized the terminal designations of a number of airlines to maximize the capacity of existing facilities. Several foreign carriers transferred their operations to Terminal 3 as PAL moved all of its international flights to Terminal 1.

Even though NAIA-2 was turned into a domestic gateway, low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific was told to hold its ground in Terminals 3 and 4.

For 2023, MIAA projects passenger volume at NAIA to surpass the 2022 record of 30.9 million, as the agency believes travelers will pursue the plans they had to postpone due to the pandemic.