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Ninoy Aquino International Airport

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Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title Template:Airport image Template:Airport infobox Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Runway Template:Airport end frame The Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA (IATA: MNL, ICAO: RPLL) is the international airport that serves Manila, in the Philippines, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is the main international gateway of the country. Its main alternate airports are both Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Angeles City and Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City, Metro Cebu.

It is located along the border between Pasay City and Parañaque City in Metro Manila. It is about 7 kilometers south of the country's capital Manila, and southwest of Makati City's Central Business District.

The airport is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a branch of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

History

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 after the EDSA Revolution, in honor of Benigno Aquino Jr., whose nickname was Ninoy. Ninoy was the husband of former president Corazon Aquino, and the opposition senator who was assassinated at the airport shortly after he arrived in the country following his political exile.

Plans for a new terminal were conceived in 1989, when the Department of Transportation and Communications commissioned Aéroports de Paris to do a study to expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport's capacity. The recommendation was to build two new terminals, and so NAIA-2 and NAIA-3 were built in the succeeding years.

It is planned that when the airport reaches full capacity in 2015 as predicted, all of its international, domestic and cargo operations will move to the much bigger, state-of-the-art Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga. Terminal 3 will be converted into a shopping mall and all of the other infrastructures e.g. runways, taxiways, Terminals 1 and 2 will be demolished and converted into a residential and commercial area.

Airlines

File:FACADE-AIRSIDE2.jpg
NAIA Terminal 1

The following airlines serve Ninoy Aquino International Airport (as of February 2006):

Terminal 1

Terminal 2 "Centennial Terminal"

  • Philippine Airlines (Bacolod, Bangkok, Beijing, Busan, Butuan, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Cotabato City, Davao, Dipolog, Fukuoka, General Santos, Guam, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Iloilo, Jakarta, Kalibo, Las Vegas, Legazpi, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Naga, Nagoya, Okinawa, Osaka-Kansai, Puerto Princesa, Roxas City, San Francisco, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore, Sydney, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Taipei-Chiang Kai Shek, Tokyo-Narita, Vancouver, Xiamen, Zamboanga)

Terminal 3

File:Domestic-Front.jpg
The Domestic Terminal

Domestic Terminal

  • Air Philippines (Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Tuguegarao, Zamboanga)
  • Asian Spirit (Angeles, Basco, Baguio, Calbayog, Catarman, Caticlan, Davao, Gasan, Kalibo, Masbate, Pagadian (seasonal), Puerto Princesa, San Jose (Antique), San Jose (Occidental Mindoro), Surigao, Taytay, Tuguegarao, Virac)
  • Cebu Pacific (Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Cotabato, Davao, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Roxas City, Subic Bay, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Zamboanga City)
  • Corporate Air (Caticlan, Subic Bay (FedEx Employees Only)
  • Interisland Airlines (Caticlan, Tablas)
  • South East Asian Airlines (Angeles City, Basco (seasonal), Busuanga, Caticlan, El Nido, Rodriguez, San Jose (Occidental Mindoro), Subic Bay (seasonal)

International Cargo Terminal

Note: Philippine carriers use different hangars for their cargo services, whether domestic or international.

File:Naia3.jpg
NAIA Terminal 3

Structure

Runways

NAIA has a primary runway (3,737 m) running at 061°/241° (designated as Runway 06/24) and a secondary runway (2,258 m) running at 136°/316° (designated as Runway 13/31).

Terminals

NAIA has two operational international terminals, with the third one scheduled to open by March 2006, and a separate domestic terminal.

The first terminal, NAIA-1, is the original terminal and was constructed in 1981. The 67,000 square meter terminal was designed by Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin and has a design capacity of 4.5 million passengers per year. It currently serves all non-Philippine Airlines international flights. The terminal reached capacity in 1991 and has been over capacity ever since and is now crowded and with few modern comforts or facilities.

The second terminal, NAIA-2, was finished in 1998 and is named the Centennial Terminal since 1998 was 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. Terminal 2 is the home of Philippine Airlines and is used for both its domestic and international flights. It has the most flights out of all the NAIA terminals.

The third, much larger terminal, NAIA-3, was approved for construction in 1997 and the structure was mostly completed several years ago. 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. On December 2004, the Philippine Government expropriated the terminal project from PIATCO without compensation through an order of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC). The terminal has yet to become operational. Having apparently lost a considerable investment through manipulation by the government of the Philippines, PIATCO (and its German partner FRAPORT) have continuing litigations in international court to recover a fair settlement. The case remains under litigation, with Fraport filing an arbitration case with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes and demanding compensation of 465 million dollars to recover their investment. NAIA-3 is set for a "soft opening on April 1, 2006. Cebu Pacific will be the first airline to launch flights out of NAIA-3, with flights to Hong Kong International Airport and Incheon International Airport. MIAA sources have said major foreign airlines were still hesitant to transfer to the new terminal until the ownership issue is resolved and no date has been set for full operation.

In September of 2005 Manila International Airport Authority awarded a P26 million contract to Ayala Property Management Corp to manage and maintain Terminals 2 and 3 as well as act as an advisor for the placement of commercial services within the 2 terminals

The Domestic Terminal on the old Airport Road was built in 1948 and handles all domestic air traffic, excluding Philippine Airlines. Currently, the terminal is composed of two single-story buildings and serves the domestic flights of other local carriers, which are Cebu Pacific, Air Philippines, Asian Spirit, South East Asian Airlines (Seair), and Interisland Airlines.

Other structures

The airport also serves as a gateway facility of the logistics company DHL, and hosts the aircraft repair and maintenance facilities of German firm Lufthansa Technik AG, a division of Lufthansa.

Ground transportation

Taxi service is available to NAIA from all points of Metro Manila. Also, jeepney and bus routes are also available to the airport. Both forms of transportation connect all three NAIA terminals as well.

The airport is also connected to the Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT-1) by a two-kilometer taxi ride to Baclaran station.

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