Dual airport scheme for Luzon urged

The Philippine government has been urged anew to accelerate its plans to implement a dual airport system in Luzon as this has been deemed critical in addressing an expected surge in passenger traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to about 59 million per year by 2025, and 101 million by 2040.

Airport planning specialist Ben Lao, managing principal for BenL Consulting International, is advocating for the improvement of the existing Naia, which he said was still a performing asset despite being tagged several times as one of the 10 worst airports in the world. This was amid talks of putting up another airport and shutting down the existing Naia once the new one starts operations.

“Naia should be developed, and so with Clark, Davao and Cebu, as these are the major gateways. We are spread over 7,107 islands and we need airports that should be developed concurrently. But Naia should be fixed, because of the valuable airspace, convenience (proximity to city centers), established flight paths and lower cost structures,” Lao said at the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) general membership meeting Thursday.

“We should scrap talks about closing Naia. Let’s rebuild, retrofit and modernize Naia and concurrently initiate plan to develop a new airport from an existing airport site like Sangley [Point] to create a dual airport system similar to other large cities in the world. We must plan for the future, which is to cater to a capacity of 150 million annual passengers or more,” he added.

According to Lao, Clark International Airport is already an existing gateway for North Luzon that should be developed fully and concurrently with Naia. It was, he added, not practical to close Naia and move the operations to Clark as this was deemed “cumbersome.”

“Naia needs airport facilities to supplement the existing one, and the right choice will be Sangley [Point]. It will take at least eight to 10 years to properly plan, conceive, develop and implement a new airport so let us maximize Naia. If done right, the Philippines can compete effectively with our neighbors for the ever growing aviation business,” Lao explained.

“Philippines, in my view, is poised to be and should be the next major aviation hub in the Asia-Pacific region. The economic impact of aviation is tremendous,” he added.