Source: Channel NewsAsia Author: Christine Ong 07/22/2008
Subject Concerned: Airlines Airport
Manila's new airport terminal is finally open after a six-year delay, with the first domestic flights taking off in the morning on July 22. Officials hope the terminal will be fully operational next year.
Legal cases filed against the government and safety concerns had stalled the opening of the US$600 million terminal.
While it is not 100-percent complete, airport officials are now confident that they will be able to provide the utmost passenger comfort and hassle-free transit.
Tirso Serrano, assistant general manager, Manila International Airport Authority, said: "We have been able to smoothen out the rough edges and the glitches that we have observed in the past simulation runs, and this has really brought us to a higher level of confidence."
Many passengers were impressed, including the Gopichand family from North Carolina.
Penny Gopichand said: "It's just a shiny new airport. It's beautiful ... absolutely gorgeous. There was a scuttlebutt that we were going to fly out today from the new airport. I think it was a long time waiting."
The new terminal is designed to handle 13 million passengers. But in the meantime, it will only accommodate up to 3.5 million domestic passengers.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 will initially service 20 daily flights of three domestic airlines. Once the terminal becomes fully operational in six months, it can accommodate up to a total of 145 flights daily.
Budget airline, Cebu Pacific, is the first to use the new terminal and it hopes to move its international operations here by next year.
Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of Cebu Pacific Air, said: "As soon as possible, we will like to combine our international and domestic operations because it offers a lot of advantages to our guests, in terms of being able to transfer between international and domestic flights."
"Second, it offers a lot of cost advantages in the sense that all our airplanes will be located in the same facility. Third, it offers a lot of synergies in terms of our manpower and staffing - by putting a single base in Manila - and efficiency is very important right now."
Airport officials also plan to expand the Philippines' two other international airport terminals in Manila before year-end.