A consortium of large real estate developers has doubled its offer from P100 billion to P210 billion not only to rehabilitate but also modernize the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Meanwhile, the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Friday started operating its international flights at the NAIA Terminal 1 as part of the airport authority’s Schedule and Terminal Assignment Rationalization (STAR) program to optimize the capacity of the four NAIA terminals.
The P210-billion unsolicited proposal came from the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp, Alliance Global – Infracorp Development, Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Global Infrastructure Partners.
“The construction firmly believes that NAIA needs rehabilitation and introduction of new operating procedures and new technologies as soon as possible and our unsolicited proposal is the fastest route towards providing comfortable and efficient international gateway for the passengers now, which the Filipinos deserve and now,” Aboitiz Infracapital Inc. president and chief executive officer Cosette Canilao told ANC.
The MIAC said the increase in its offer was based on new studies, including the projected growth in flight traffic to about 55 million passengers annually from the 48 million pre-pandemic level.
“There is a real need to implement these comprehensive changes the soonest time possible and our proposal is you know is based on that new studies,” Canilao said.
The proposed multi-phased masterplan includes P56 billion in investments which would be immediately released in the first five years.
It will focus on “immediately upgrading the facilities and at the same time introducing new technologies to make the airport more efficient,” Canilao said.
She said the consortium wants to evaluate the unsolicited proposal. If approved, implementation may begin in the latter part of the year while improvements could be felt by next year, she added.
“All PAL international flights will operate at Manila Airport’s NAIA Terminal 1 while all PAL domestic flights will remain at NAIA Terminal 2,” the airline management said in an advisory.
PAL urged overseas-bound passengers to arrive at the airport at least four hours before departure and three hours lead time for domestic flights to allow ample time for immigration and security checks.
The airline management allows early check in for international passengers in NAIA Terminal 1 and domestic passengers in NAIA Terminal 2
The STAR program is now on its final phase with the planned transfer of all domestic flights of Air Asia Philippines and Royal Air Philippines to NAIA Terminal 2, alongside Sunlight Air’s move to NAIA Terminal 4 on July 1.
Early this month, four international airlines – Gulf Air, Thai Airways, Jeju Air, and Ethiopian Airlines – started operating in Terminal 3.
“The transition of these carriers was seamless, just as it had been in previous phases of our STAR program. This is a result of our continuous coordination with airlines and ground handlers, our massive information drive to minimize instances of misrouted passengers and the proactive measures we have put in place to ensure that no passenger is left behind,” said Manila International Airport Authority officer-in-charge Bryan Co.
Upon completion of the STAR program, NAIA Terminal 2 will be home to all domestic operations of PAL, Air Asia, and Royal Air.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific Air’s domestic operations will continue to operate to and from NAIA Terminals 3 and 4, while MIAA works on further expanding the capacity of NAIA Terminal 2.
In another development, an advocacy group urged the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to proceed with its plans to undertake competitive bidding for the rehabilitation of the NAIA in order to protect the public interest.
“The public interest, particularly reasonable terminal fees, is as important as government revenue in public private partnerships (PPPs) such as airport operations. For context, the Manila International Airport Consortium’s (MIAC) revised unsolicited offer of $3.8 billion (P210 billion) is almost fifty percent higher than the DoTr’s recent pronouncement that NAIA’s rehabilitation will cost around P141 billion,” said Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former congressman.
“It is more than double the private consortium’s original unsolicited offer. In order to properly reflect the public interest in NAIA rehabilitation proceedings, the transport department should opt to proceed with a solicited bid and reject MIAC’s unsolicited proposal,” Ridon said.
He said allowing an unsolicited private proponent to revise its proposal is akin to a ‘fishing expedition’ on the real rehabilitation requirements of the country’s main international gateway.
“If the private consortium has submitted an initial unsolicited proposal that is almost thirty-percent less than the DoTr’s cost assessment, and thereafter submitting a more expensive amended proposal, it can only mean that both parties have entirely different perspectives on how the airport rehabilitation should proceed. But it is government that should decide with finality which rehabilitation areas should be prioritized,” he said.
Ridon added that a solicited bid ensures a focus on managing costs to benefit airport users in the course of private operations.
“Competitive bidding ensures the best price for both the government and public, as future terminal fees will be dependent on the actual project cost after a winning bidder is selected. Terminal fees will be dependent on necessary rehabilitation costs that were deemed important by government at the time of project bidding,” Ridon said.
“This is unlike an unsolicited proposal in which terminal fees are ultimately dependent on the approved project cost of a project proponent. In the case of NAIA rehabilitation, a solicited bid should ensure cheaper terminal fees by at least 30 percent if DoTr’s P141 billion cost pronouncement holds,” he added.