Five foreign airlines will transfer to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in August as the passenger terminal building is finally ready for full operations on July 31.
“We are extremely pleased to confirm that full airline operations will begin at NAIA Terminal 3 next week,” Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said in a press statement.
“Our gateway airport will now be able to welcome 3.5 million more passengers with modern facilities every year, and Terminal 1 will now be considerably decongested to improve passenger convenience,” Abaya added.
State-owned NAIA operator Manila International Airport Authority said Delta Airlines will have its first flight out of Terminal 3 on August 1, while KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will transfer to the terminal within the first week of August. Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Cathay Pacific will follow suit by the end of August.
“These five carriers have the highest volume of international flights coming in and [going] out of NAIA, so we look forward to giving them a new home,” Abaya stated.
The NAIA Terminal 3 project was awarded in 1997 and was supposed to be completed in 2002. However, legal issues over its bidding process bogged down its progress and delayed its opening until 2008, and even then it was only 52% operational.
Then Transport Secretary Mar Roxas initiated talks with Terminal 3’s original contractor, Takenaka Corporation of Japan, to complete the facility despite the ongoing cases.
On assuming office in 2012, Abaya continued Roxas’ negotiations with Takenaka and convinced the firm in July last year to finish the project.
“President Aquino’s Daang Matuwid promise calls for political will to prevail in order to deliver the government services our people deserve, so we made sure that 17 years and four administrations later, the whole Terminal 3 facility may be enjoyed by the public within this term,” Abaya remarked.
Takenaka’s US$40-million contract began in August 2013. Over the past year, the firm completed works for critical systems such as flight information displays, computer terminals, gate coordination, landing bridges, and fire protection systems.
As of July 18, around 85% of these works have been completed. Systems that are not critical to full airline operations, such as the building’s maintenance system, will be completed within the year.
The transfer of the five airlines to the new terminal will reduce Terminal 1’s annual passenger throughput from the current eight million to its design capacity of 4.5 million, freeing up more space and reducing the number of travelers affected by the ongoing rehabilitation works at the old terminal.
