NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

The 'Ninoy Aquino International Airport' (Filipino: ''Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino'') or 'NAIA' is one of the two international airports serving the Metro Manila Area and the main international gateway of the Philippines. Currently, Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) caters mostly to low-budget airlines servicing Manila, but definite plans to transfer full operations of NAIA to DMIA has been implemented.
It is located in the Metro Manila National Capital Region (NCR) along the border between Pasay City and Parañaque City, about 7 kilometers south of the country's capital Manila, and southwest of Makati City's Central Business District. It is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a branch of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
In 2006, the airport handled an estimated 17,700,000 passengers. This was an 8.9% growth in passenger numbers from 2005 and placing the airport 72nd worldwide in terms of passenger traffic.

History

The old Manila International Airport terminal building

The original airport that served Manila, the ''Manila International Air Terminal'', was opened in July 1937 on Nielson Field, located in what is now the central business district of Makati. In 1948, the airport was moved to its current site adjacent to the Villamor Airbase, which was then called Nichols Field. The original structure was built on what is now the site of the NAIA-2. In 1981, a new structure was built after a fire damaged the old terminal building, and this new structure is what is now NAIA-1. The new terminal was capable of handling more passengers than the old terminal. Previously named ''Manila International Airport'', it was later renamed to its present name on August 17, 1987, by virtue of Republic Act No. 6639, with the intention of honoring Benigno Aquino, Jr., whose nickname was ''Ninoy''. On August 21, 1983, during the Marcos presidency, former opposition senator Ninoy was assassinated at the airport after returning to the country from his self-imposed exile in Massachusetts, United States. His assassination lead to Marcos being overthrown in 1986 and his wife Corazon Aquino becoming president.
Plans for a new terminal were conceived in 1989, when the Department of Transportation and Communications commissioned Aéroports de Paris to do a feasibility study to expand capacity. The recommendation was to build two new terminals, and so NAIA-2 and NAIA-3 were built in the succeeding years.

Terminals

Terminal 1

Baggage Claim Area of the NAIA Terminal 1

The development of the Manila International Airport was, finally approved through the promulgation of Executive Order No. 381, which authorized the airport's development. In 1973, a feasibility study/airport master plan was done by Airways Engineering Corporation through a US$29.6 million loan from the Asian Development Bank. The Detailed Engineering Design of the New Manila International Airport Development Project was done by Renardet-Sauti/Transplan/F.F. Cruz Consultant while the terminal's Detailed Architectural Design was prepared by Leandro Locsin's L.V. Locsin and Associates.^[2]

The check-in hall of Terminal 1.

In 1974, the detailed designs were adopted by the Philippine Government and was subsequently approved by the Asian Development Bank on September 18, 1975. Actual work on the terminal began during the second quarter of 1978.
The terminal was completed in 1981 and had a size of 67,000 square meters with a design capacity of 4.5 million passengers per year. It currently serves all non-Philippine Airlines international flights. In 1989, a Master Plan Review recommended the construction of two new terminals (NAIA 2 and NAIA 3), as well as many other facility improvements.²
The terminal reached capacity in 1991, when it registered a total passenger volume of 4.53 million. Since 1991, the terminal has been over capacity and has been recording an annual average growth rate of 11%.² It has 18 airbridges and services 27 airlines (as of July 2006). Interestingly enough, the building does not have a Gate 8 and a Gate 13. Compared to international terminals in other Asian countries, Terminal 1 consistently ranks at the bottom, with limited and outdated facilities, poor passenger comfort, and the facility long ago exceeded its design capacity..
There are rumors that after everything will be fixed regarding the opening of the new Terminal 3, Terminal 1 will be bought and developed by Cebu Pacific Air for their exclusive use of the terminal similar to Terminal 2 (Centennial Terminal) which is exclusively used by Philippine Airlines.

Terminal 2 "Centennial Terminal"

The second terminal, NAIA-2, located at the Old MIA Road and was finished in 1998 and began operations in 1999. It has been named the ''Centennial Terminal'' in commemoration of the centennial year of the declaration of Philippine independence. The 75,000-square meter terminal was originally designed by Aéroports de Paris to be a domestic terminal, but the design was later modified to accommodate international flights. It has a capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year in its international wing and 5 million in its domestic wing, which later will expand to nine million passengers yearly.

The Centennial Terminal 2 at NAIA.

Terminal 2 is the home of Philippine Airlines and its sister company Air Philippines, and is used for both its domestic and international flights.
It has the most flights out of all the NAIA terminals. It is divided into 2 wings: the North Wing which handles international flights and the South Wing which handles domestic flights. It currently has 12 airbridges.
The need for two more terminals was proposed by a Master Plan Review of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that was undertaken in 1989 by Aéroports de Paris (ADP), which was facilitated through a grant from the French Government. The review cost 2.9 million French francs and was submitted to the Philippine Government for evaluation in 1990.²
In 1991, the French government granted a 30 million franc soft loan to the Government of the Philippines, which was to be used to cover the Detailed Architectural and Engineering Design of the NAIA Terminal 2. ADP completed the design in 1992 and in 1994, the Japanese Government granted an 18.12 billion yen soft loan to the Philippine Government to finance 75% of the terminal's construction costs and 100% of the supervision costs. Construction on the terminal began on December 11, 1995 and was formally turned over to the Government of the Philippines on December 28, 1998

Terminal 3

The third terminal of the airport, the larger 'Terminal 3', is the newest terminal in the NAIA complex. Constructed starting 1997, the terminal is 98% complete as of 2006. It is one of the most controversial projects the Philippine government has gotten involved in, and in some cases is likened to a white elephant. Legal hurdles, including international arbitration cases in both the United States and Singapore as well as technical concerns prohibit its opening. However, the government hopes to open the terminal in 2008.

History

The original proposal for the construction of a third terminal was proposed by Asia's Emerging Dragon Corporation (AEDP). AEDP eventually lost the bid to PairCargo and its partner Fraport AG of Germany, who went on to begin construction of the terminal under the administration of Joseph Estrada.
Terminal 3 was approved for construction in 1997 and the structure was mostly completed several years ago and was originally scheduled to open in 2002. The modern US$640 million, 189,000 square meter facility was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to have a capacity of 13 million passengers per year. However, a legal dispute between the government of the Philippines and the project's main contractor, PIATCO, over the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract, continues to delay final completion and opening of the terminal.
While the original agreement was one in which PairCargo and Fraport AG would operate the airport for several years after its construction, followed by a handing over of the terminal to the Philippine Government, the government offered to buy out Fraport AG for $400 million, to which Fraport agreed. However, before the terminal could be fully completed, then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, calling the contract "onerous," formed a committee to evaluate the agreement to buy out Fraport AG. It is this action that has sparked the most controversy. The Philippine supreme court eventually found the PIATCO contract "null and void."
The current administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo eventually abrogated PIATCO's BOT Contract for allegedly having been anomalous in certain important respects. In a subsequent decision, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld the Philippine Government's position on the matter and declared the BOT contract "null and void" for, among other things, having violated certain provisions of the BOT law. More specifically, the Court found that the original contract was revised to allow for a Philippine Government guarantee of PIATCO's obligations to its creditors, contractors and suppliers. The BOT law disallows the granting of such sovereign guarantees. PIATCO begs to differ and continues to maintain that the provisions cited by the Supreme Court do not amount to a prohibited sovereign guarantee by the Philippine Government.
On December 2004, the Philippine Government expropriated the terminal project from PIATCO through an order of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC). However, the court only allowed the Philippine Government to take over the terminal upon payment of an initial amount of PHP3 billion (approx. USD64 million) to PIATCO. The Philippine Government formally paid PIATCO the said amount on the second week of September 2006.
According to the Philippine Government, NAIA-3 is 98% complete and will require at least an additional USD6 million to complete. The government is in the process of negotiating a contract with the builder of the terminal, Takenaka of Japan. Another factor that continues to delay the terminal's opening is the ongoing investigation into the collapse of a 100 sqm. area of the terminal's ceiling. Proposed test runs for Terminal 3 have been postponed indefinitely pending the results of the investigation and the inspection of the airport terminal.
PIATCO (and its German partner Fraport) have instituted arbitration proceedings before different international bodies (Piatco in Singapore before the ICC and Fraport in Washington D.C. before the ICSID) to recover a fair settlement. Both cases remain under litigation. PIATCO, speaking through its lawyers, has recently stated in the local Philippine press that it remains open to reaching an amicable settlement with the Philippine Government.
An article in Manila Standard Today on 26 May 2007 states that the opening of Terminal 3 is still uncertain. Further, the article states that numerous structural problems exist. The two consulting firms commissioned by the Manila International Airport Authority said NAIA-3 was structurally defective and recommended the indefinite postponement of the terminal’s operation until renovation and repairs have been completed.
An article in the Manila Times dates 14 June, 2007 states that the MIAA dropped the Japanese contractor Takenaka beacause of earlier deaf pleas to the request of MIAA to fix the 100 sq. m. part of NAIA-3.
In mid-August 2007, the World Bank dismissed Fraport's claim of compensation for NAIA-3 saying it had no jurisdiction over the matter. Officials consider this as clearing the way for the eventual operation of the said facility. ^[3]

Structure

Terminal 3 is built on a 63.5-hectare lot that sits on Villamor Air Base. The terminal building has a total floor area of 182,500 m², having a total length of 1.2 kilometers. A 4-level shopping mall connects the terminal and parking buildings. The parking building has a capacity of 2,000 cars while the outdoor parking area has a capacity of 1,200 cars. The terminal is capable of servicing 33,000 passengers daily at peak or 6,000 passengers per hour.
Its apron area has a size of 147,400 m², 34 air bridges, 20 contact gates with the ability of servicing 28 planes at any given time. The terminal has 70 flight information terminals, 314 display monitors, with 300 kilometers of fiber optic I.T. cabling. It also has 29 restroom blocks. The departure area has five entrances all equipped with X-ray machines with the final security check having 18 X-ray machines while its baggage claim has 7 large baggage carousels, each with its own flight display monitor.
International travelers opine that if the terminal 3 opens, more airlines are likely to fly to the Philippines thereby giving the economy a boost.

Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal

This terminal is host to all domestic flights within the Philippines that are not Philippine Airlines or Air Philippines flights. There are no jet bridges and passengers walk to and from the aircraft or are occasionally bussed. The Domestic Terminal on the old Airport Road was built in 1948 and is located near the north end of Runway 13/31. An old hangar has since been annexed to the terminal.