Much anticipated take over
All systems are go for the takeover by the private sector of the maintenance and operations of the country’s primary gateway – the Ninoy Aquino International Airport – on Sept.14.
This is good news for Filipinos who already dread leaving from or arriving at NAIA because of either their own harrowing experiences or accounts from other persons, especially foreigners.
NAIA has long been a source of embarrassment for the Philippines and for Filipinos. It has consistently been named as one of the worst airports in the world.
Just last February, NAIA was named as the fourth worst gateway in Asia and the Middle East by business class travelers. In a list drawn up by businessfinancing.co.uk, NAIA obtained a score of 2.78 on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest. Noi Bai International Airport in Vietnam and Changi Airport in Singapore have been ranked as the world’s best and second best with averages of 6.8 and 6.63, respectively.
NAIA also ranked 199th out of 239 airports from 69 countries in the 2024 global airport ranking report released by flight compensation company AirHelp.
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies last year said that the airport suffered from both passenger and runway congestion.
Last July, Sen. Raffy Tulfo even filed a resolution seeking to investigate the long passenger lines and malfunctioning electronic gates at NAIA. In the resolution, he said there is a need to evaluate the current situation and operational improvement and ensure that international aviation standards are complied with.
With NAIA about to be rehabilitated and operated by a consortium led by diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), which recently bagged a 15-year P170.6-billion concession extendible for another 10 years, then NAIA definitely has a chance to redeem itself and bring back its lost glory.
The contract between the government and the New NAIA Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC) will require the latter to invest a minimum of P122.3 billion or P4.89 billion a year to upgrade the airport.
The SMC SAP & Co. Consortium, which later was incorporated to become NNIC, bagged the contract after besting two other qualified bidders when the consortium offered
