Tycoon Ramon Ang said there would be no quick transformation, like magic, at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) once his company takes over the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the country’s main international gateway on Sept. 14, 2024.
“I do not expect when we take over everything, [it] will improve in one day like magic. But you will see a lot of improvements by December. Three months after [the takeover], there’s a lot of improvements like less traffic and more,” said Ang, president and chief executive of San Miguel Corp.
Ang said the New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) would initially focus on repairing the elevators, escalators, toilets, air-conditioning units and NAIA’s electrical system.
NNIC, composed of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics Inc., RLW Aviation Development Inc. and Incheon International Airport Corp., is set to take over the NAIA O&M.
Formerly known as SMC SAP & Co. Consortium, the group signed a P170.6-billion contract in March 2024 to operate, maintain and upgrade NAIA for 15 years, extendible for another 10 years.
“The brownout of the terminals? When we take over, give us one year. That’s all solved,” Ang said.
Airlines reassignment
Ang said NNIC is studying the possibility of reassigning terminals and airplanes to optimize airport efficiency in the long term.
“We are now in the process of finalizing the study on how to decongest, which flight to move to at what time and which terminal,” he said.
The SMC executive also said that it was the government, not SMC, that set the new parking and landing fees.
The passenger terminal fee would also increase to P950 by 2025 from P550.
“The last increase was in 2000, so [it has been] 24 years without an increase. We also have the lowest passenger terminal fee if you compare it to other airports in other countries,” Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
“It’s about time. We need to implement reforms. We need to modernize the airport, so if we want a better experience, of course there will be a cost,” he said.
Easier traffic
Ang said NIC plans to impose curbside fees at the airport to improve traffic congestion.
“The passenger meeters and greeters, they are the ones who cause congestion. Once they are on the departure curbside, they won’t immediately leave. Why? Because they would wait for their son, daughter or girlfriend to board the airplane before leaving,” he said.
“In other countries, there’s a curbside fee. In short, you are free to drop off your passenger for 10 minutes. That’s free. If you stay beyond 10 minutes, P200,” Ang said.
NNIC also plans to construct a new NAIA Expressway off-ramp leading to NAIA Terminal 3 to ease traffic congestion in the area.
“I think [the project is estimated to cost] P3 billion to P5 billion. We obtained a permit from Pasay LGU [local government unit] and TRB [Toll Regulatory Board [TRB],” Ang said.
Ang said the construction of the new off-ramp already started and was expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
