Naia Terminal 3 rehab to be finished in August

The Department of Transportation and Communications said the rehabilitation of the Terminal 3 at the busy Ninoy Aquino International Airport serving Metro Manila was expected to be completed by the August deadline, allowing it to accommodate more international carriers and decongest the aging Terminal 1.

Contractor Takenaka Corp. of Japan was already at the “62 percent” completion of the rehabilitation of Terminal 3, said Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotillo.

Naia Terminal 3, which was mothballed for six years due to legal issues before finally opening in 2008, has only been operating at half its intended 13-million-passenger capacity a year, which the Department of Transportation and Communications is seeking to address with the rehabilitation project.

Once completed, carriers Delta, KLM, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates are expected to move their operations to Terminal 3 from Terminal 1.

“We will be reducing the number of users of Terminal 1,” Lotilla said. He noted that the move would decrease passengers at Terminal 1 from 8 million down to its original rated capacity of 4.5 million.

He noted that all five carriers have agreed to move to Naia Terminal 3, where they will be building lounges and offices. Currently, Japan’s All Nippon Airways uses Naia Terminal 3.

The rehabilitation at Terminal 3 is being undertaken alongside similar works at Terminal 1, which is being handled by the construction arm of DMCI Holdings Inc.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya said the rehabilitation of Naia Terminal 1 would be done by January 2015, ahead of the Apec Summit that year.

Built in the 1970s, Terminal 1 currently serves as the gateway for foreign commercial carriers and is one of four terminals within the Naia complex—the country’s busiest airport serving over 32  million passengers a year.

The rehabilitation work is meant to improve services and is linked to the government’s broader goal of boosting tourism. The Department of Tourism is looking to attract 10 million international visitors to the country by 2016 compared to about 4.7 million last year.