Another Runway Planned for Ninoy Aquino International Airport

In a recent meeting between Philippine Airlines President Ramon Ang and President Aquino, Ang proposed a number of solutions to address flight congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. One of the proposed solutions was the construction of another runway, which according to Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, has been approved.

new runway ninoy aquino airport
Image Source: Skyscraper Forums
Although the Ninoy Aquino International Airport currently has two active runways, they run perpendicular to one another and intersect making it impossible to use both runways simultaneously. Under the latest proposal, a new runway will be constructed beside runway 6-24. However, project details including the measurement of the open space available have yet to be determined.
Ang also recommended that the government should purchase a more modern navigation system such as the Ground Base Augmented System (G-Bus). But Abaya said that they would need to consult with the Civil Aviation Authority first to determine if such equipment was acceptable. 

ninoy aquino airport new runway
Screen Capture: ABS-CBN / Image Source: Dirk Salcedo/PPSG
Although the construction of a new runway would likely alleviate congestion at the airport, critics say that the best solution is still the construction of a new and larger airport either in Sangley or beside Manila Bay. Earlier this week, the San Miguel Corporation submitted a proposal to President Aquino to construct a brand new $10 billion airport with four runways on a reclaimed area owned by CyberBay. Ang said that the government should hold a bidding for the project and that he would personally be ready to divest his control over Philippine Airlines in order to be able to participate. 

Frustrations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport continue to rise as passengers complain of poor infrastructure, long queues, and several delays. Although the government is attempting to rehabilitate Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, frustration seems to be at an all time high as passengers must endure unbearable conditions particularly in Terminal 1 where the air conditioning is not currently working at full capacity. President Aquino himself was recently forced to apologize over the unbearable heat inside the terminal. Terminal 1 has been labelled for several consecutive years as the "world's worst airport."

Most recently, another departing passenger collapsed on the floor at the immigration counter at Terminal 1. The passenger lost consciousness due to the long queues at immigration combined with the suffocating heat. Airport medical officers attended to the passenger immediately. This is the second incident in the last two months where a passenger lost consciousness at the airport. 

18 comments:

  1. Not to rain on the government's parade but is this really doable? I mean we have a 1940s crisscross single runway that is capable of handling like around 40-50 aircraft events per hour and they are going to built a new one? Won't it affect the current slow air traffic and make it slower? Seriously, we need something more than runways. The government must realize the need for new airports. No, I'm not going to talk about Clark because it's too far. They should study about RSA's proposal. It's a sweet spot actually. It's near Makati, Manila, Alabang, and the PAGCOR entertainment city.

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    1. Clark is very doable, but the government needs to get its act together if it intends to do it. First, a world class terminal would need to be built along with support facilities.
      Then a world class, high speed rail link would need to be built to facilitate passengers transit from Metro Manila to the airport.
      It is doable. But it is doubtful that the intelligence and political will exist in our current regime.

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    2. Let me put it this way: Imagine if you're going to Los Angeles and there's no LAX, only SFO. SFO is like 5 hours away from LA. You have an urgent meeting on LA.

      That's the point. Clark would only work for business and tourists up North but for thos in NCR, no. Imagine if you have a meeting in Alabang and your airport's in Clark. The government should realize that Clark is not for those who live in Central and Southern Metro Manila. It might work for some in QC but not for everyone.

      Even with the rail, no. Let's say it would only take you 45 minutes from Clark to NAIA then add some 45 minutes for a cab ride. That's 90 already, whereas if we could have one in Sangley- Manila Bay it's just 45 minutes. Yes, Sangley- Manila Bay would take years but at least it's more realistic than Clark.

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    3. For my own opinion this new parallel runway will not help the congestion in NAIA. . If you try to evaluate it deeper, aircraft going to that runway will cross the the existing 06-24 runway this means that you can not use the runway during the time of crossing. .

      I think this will add more complication in the operation of NAIA. . Parallel runway will not help. .

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  2. New airport systems are needed, aswell as rnav approaches and removal of the VOR. Where i did my pilot training in Florida they have ils and rnav systems, eventhough just for general aviation and corporate. Its so inefficient in the Philippines

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  3. A new runway should have been made 10 years ago when they knew how rapid the passangers number were increasing. Filipino government in a nutshell!!

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  4. This really shows the incompetence and lack of political will of the current regime.
    Not only is this a stupid suggestion, it is one that is impractical. The current airport is already hemmed in by too many buildings (actually, many of them are on former airport property wrongly sold off to private users). Any further expansion of the current airport will require huge condemnations of private property - and we know how long that will be tied up in our weak court system.
    Also, this smells of someone seeking to make a fast buck before this administration gets gone.
    Let's see an intelligent proposal from government and if it cannot make one, let a private company take it over. Thus far, government's attempts at running airports are dismal - witness the current Manila International Airport run by a bunch of political hacks.

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  5. Clark and NIAA should be run by different agencies. Give Clark over to Angeles to run its non-air side (a la American airports run by local governments), or lease it to private airport operators (a la Britain's airports). Around London, the four airports are run by different groups who actively improve their services and transportation connections to "steal" traffic from the others. Clark is not going to try to steal traffic from NAIA. They are owned by the same group, the same people who got the Philippines blacklisted by European and American regulators.

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  6. I say -- choose all of the above. Build a new runway. Build a new airport. Improve Clark. Expand open skies and allow more international flights to other airports. The Philippines is the 12th largest country in the world. Metro Manila alone is bigger than half the world's countries. If London, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. can have 3+ airports than certainly Central Luzon with even greater populations can have 3. Japan has several very large airports all in the central part of their central island. Let's stop thinking "or" and think "and". Instead of "Clark or NAIA or..." think "Clark and NAIA and Cebu and Iloilo and Subic and Manila Bay and..."

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  7. The problem in the Philippines, everything is centralized. All decisions are coming from Malacanang. Even Vong Navarro and Napoles cases, they go to department of justice and senate, etc, disgraceful. Their focus is always manila. The provinces cannot even build their own infrastructure, although citizens of the provinces are paying taxes too, but they don't have money, they are just waiting from the blessings from above, holly cow, and if your governor is bad shot to malacanang, sorry your budget is stolen and was given to somewhere else. This is the reason why a lot of provinces are poor. Look at zamboanga and Tacloban, until now they cannot recover even though there is money from international donation because all decision is coming from malacanang. Now let's see what will happen to mindanao . in the new agreement, the taxes will be split and even decisions will be split. In ten years, watch them and a new airport will rise from their own taxes and local management which maybe better than Manila.

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  8. This is somehow related to this. RSA said that he's willing to give up his stake on PAL just to push through with this, right? Am I the only one who smells something fishy on this? Hear me up guys. SMC operates KLO but we didn't hear something like this from him. Now that he knows that this could be a bigger money maker compared to the loss making flag carrier, he would like to drop the airline right away. He would clearly make more money on the airport than the airline. Mind you, this comes after PAL posted a staggering $250 million dollar loss for F.Y. 2013-2014. Adding another one, back then he thought of having a leasing company for PAL's aircraft. Yeah he said that PAL would own it and the company would be based on Cayman Islands. If that went on, if in any case PAL will close shop SMC won't have nothing to lose- just like the airport scene where he would exit PAL and still have the airport. What I'm trying to say here is that does RSA want to exit PAL cause he can't fix it and is continually bleeding?

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  9. Replies
    1. A plan had been presented to Pnoy 2 or 3 years ago to developed Clark as International airport with high speed train for Clark/Manila passengers, and it is very much doable.. Please do not add more congestion to already congested airport...Numerous tall building are being constructed around the airport of Manila, and the wind conditions affects the arrival/departures of aircraft (safety of aircraft and passengers is very tantamount), while around Clark the government can apply/imposed a stricter building code around the airport. Clark is the best option if the government really want a safer aircraft operations and and passengers comfort

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  10. Clark will be no further away than Narita is from downtown Tokyo, or Kansai is from downtown Kyoto or Osaka. What matters is the high speed efficient rail link or the high speed efficient expressways. Unfortunately Manila has neither, and it seems no-one in government has any clue about how to do it. Maybe just stick to overloaded ferries and unregulated clapped out buses with extra loud horns....

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  11. Manila is not the worst airport in the world.. lets be fair. It is only the worst INTERNATIONAL airport in the world. There are worse airports in small towns in Kazakhstan and Sudan...

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  12. you call that runway? that would be like tegucigalpa. that's only 2km long. not enough even for an a330.

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