The Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) – a joint partnership between six of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates including Newport World Resorts parent Alliance Global Group – has unveiled a Php267 billion (US$4.8 billion) masterplan to redevelop and upgrade Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The unsolicited proposal, under which the consortium asks to be granted a 25-year concession to operate the airport, aims to more than double NAIA’s declared capacity from 31 million currently to around 70 million by 2048 across three expansion phases. Noting that NAIA was welcoming 47.9 million passengers pre-pandemic – already well above stated capacity – the MIAC’s masterplan would, if approved, start with a first phase called “Quick Wins” intended to quickly increase the capacity of the airport to 54 million by 2025 while reducing queuing times at various bottlenecks throughout NAIA.
Phase 2, to be completed by 2028, would further increase capacity to 62.5 million through expansion and development of the terminal floor area, addition of airfield facilities and improvements in cross-terminal transportation. Phase 3 would further increase NAIA’s capacity to around 70 million by 2048 via long-term expansion and development projects to further expand terminal space and airfield capacity.
In a statement, MIAC said it has submitted its unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation and the Manila International Airport Authority under the Philippines’ Public-Private Partnership framework, outlining its vision for NAIA to serve as an “engine of growth” for the Philippines, especially in the tourism and economic sectors.
“The Manila International Airport Consortium recognizes the immense task of transforming NAIA to meet the exponentially growing demands of Mega Manila air travel, not only in the here and now but also in the future,” said Alliance Global Group (AGI) CEO, Kevin Tan. AGI counts Newport World Resorts, located alongside NAIA, among its assets.
“It is because of this that the members of the Consortium have pooled together its significant resources, technical expertise and operational experience to put forward a NAIA Masterplan.”
The President and CEO of Filinvest Development Corporation, L. Josephine Gotianun-Yap, added, “NAIA’s importance and economic impact cannot be overstated, especially since it has an ecosystem of supporting infrastructure that would take decades for greenfield airport developments to replicate. It is necessary for NAIA’s comprehensive modernization to happen in parallel with the development of greenfield airports.”
Under the proposal, MIAC would invest Php57 billion (US$1 billion) of capital investments over the first five years of development with the remainder to be invested over the remainder of the proposed 25-year concession period.
It also provides for a Php57 billion upfront concession payment to the government, a lure JG Summit Senior Advisor BJ Sebastian said would “strengthen the government’s fiscal position and address other critical priorities such as ongoing pandemic recovery efforts; growing consumer demands for safer, more convenient and efficient travel services; and tightening global financial conditions.”
The MIAC consortium comprises Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corporation, Alliance Global – Infracorp Development Inc, Filinvest Development Corporation, and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corporation. Global airport operator and infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is the consortium’s technical partner.
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