The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is poised to convert the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 into a domestic airport this coming July.
“The Terminal 2 from the time it was designed in the late 90s was intended to be a domestic terminal. When you arrived from an international flight you will notice a cramped facility,” said MIAA senior assistant general manager Bryan Co.
Co said the projected conversion was line with the agency’s scheduled assignment rationalization program implemented since last year.
At present, Terminal 2 is being used exclusively by the Philippine Airlines (PAL) for its domestic and overseas flights.
“We first implemented it (program) on December 1 when we moved PAL flights to and from the United States, Canada and Middle East. By June 16, the remaining international flights will be moved to Terminal 1 and so by July 1, Terminal 2 will become all domestic that will include the domestic flights of PAL, as well as Philippines Air Asia,” Co said.
MIAA officials said Immigration personnel assigned at Terminal 2 will be transferred to Terminals 1 and 3 to address the long queues at Immigration counters.
Former MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal had said using these terminals for both domestic and international flights caused air traffic congestion and inconvenience for plane passengers.
He said the best way to resolve the situation is to rationalize the airport and fully utilize Terminal 3 for international flights, and Terminal 2 for domestic flights.
MIAA records showed that Terminal 1 was completed in 1981 to accommodate the country’s growing international passenger traffic
levels during the 1970s. The 16-gate facility with 78 check-in counters and 24 immigration stations was designed by Leandro Locsin, a national artist of the Philippines for architecture.
Terminal 2 began operations in 1999. Originally envisioned as a domestic hub, the facility now houses both the international and domestic operations of the country’s flag carrier, Philippine Airlines.
While improvements raised Terminal 1’s design capacity to six million, a peak level of 7.7 million passengers was reached in 1997, causing overflow of passengers that year. Terminal 3 was the answer to this growing traffic.
NAIA 3 can handle 13 million international passengers annually. The center of the building contains the head house where passenger processing is centralized. A total of 20 boarding gates and 140 Check-In-Counters can accommodate 4,000 peak hour one-way passengers.
Terminal 3 officially opened to selected domestic flights from July2008 (initially Cebu Pacific only, then PAL’s subsidiaries Air Philippines and PAL Express), with Cebu Pacific international flights using it from August 2008.
Terminal 4, named as Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal, and still known as the Old Domestic Terminal, is the oldest of the four existing terminals. The facility hosts the operations of local carriers such as Air SWIFT, Cebgo, Philippine Air Asia and Skyjet.
Air Asia Philippines on Wednesday announced it received an official notice from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIA) on the plan to transfer all domestic flights to NAIA Terminal 2 effective July 1.
“As an airline that is guest-obsessed, we are one with MIAA with the intention of optimizing the utilization of our airport terminals. However, we have yet to study the details of the proposed terminal reassignment to adjust our operational requirements accordingly,” the airline stated.
“In the meantime, the world’s best low-cost airline would like to reassure our guests of our relentless commitment to providing a safe, comfortable, and seamless journev,” it added.