A road map for Naia

One year into the Marcos administration, reforms continue at the country’s premiere gateway—the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), formerly known as the Manila International Airport. In a previous Inquirer Opinion piece, “Reforms to turn our airport back into a jewel,” (12/15/22) I wrote about the changes needed that include the removal of useless queues starting from the vehicle checkpoint and the X-ray machines at the entrances, among other sensible moves.

Here are others: For transport access, Grab is now an accredited partner. The airport taxis are being reviewed for their performance. The terminal assignment of airlines has been rationalized. Terminal 2, which was designed as a domestic airport, will now be used as one. A longstanding issue is the use of this terminal for international flights that has resulted in overcrowding because customs, immigration, and quarantine (CIQ) counters necessary for international travel are located here despite limited space. The crisscrossing of passengers and international flights have caused confusion and delays.

With the move to use Terminal 2 only for domestic flights, a whole set of CIQ personnel can now be deployed to Terminals 1 and 3 to augment manpower. Security personnel can also be trimmed, as there will be one less terminal to watch to prevent trafficking and undesirable aliens. Passengers who need to connect from domestic to international flights are provided free shuttles. Terminals 1 and 2 are adjacent to each other with a short connecting road that avoids the stress of traffic on Domestic Road. Clearer signages, brighter lighting, friendlier security personnel, better maintained toilets, and more diverse shops are among the visible changes.

There are, of course, few improvements that are not seen, but felt. We have to believe that better governance is possible in our airports and in this country for the sake of our citizens. I leave it to travel bloggers to observe and tell stories about their experiences that would hopefully motivate better performance and more improvements in this airport.

More needs to be done. About 15 percent of total flights in and out of Naia consist of general aviation or GenAv—noncommercial flights of small passenger aircraft carrying VIPs, and Philippine Air Force flights. These flights add to the queuing time of commercial airlines as they have to be prioritized for them to avoid the vortex of bigger planes that carry a few hundred passengers. A straightforward solution is for our air force to be patriotic enough to use Sangley Point or Lipa airport, to shorten the queue for other planes. The Naia would then be a purely civilian use airport, and would less likely be a target in the event of war.

Business executives and VIPs traveling on private planes should sacrifice their personal convenience a bit and do the same. After all, they already travel in the comfort and convenience of their own planes and on their own time. At the very least, they can avoid flying during the rush hours at the airport to avoid disrupting the scheduled flights and adding to the commercial planes’ waiting time.

We also need to build an integrated cargo terminal to serve freight requirements, as cargo planes use the same runways. The baggage handling system and navigational equipment can use some improvements as well.

But the bigger battle is on the governance side. Do you know that there are more than 30 government agencies operating inside Naia? This results in a mishmash of rules and regulations, and assorted rackets for official personnel that detract from a smooth airport experience. An executive order can readily address this, as well as mandate the integration of the Office of Transport Security into the airport management structure for direct supervision. This would have been the easy solution to the “tanim bala” scam and reported thefts and abuses at the security queue.

The tax on the constitutional right to travel should be abolished. It adds one more agency and one more layer to the airport setup and adds inconvenience and unnecessary cost to passengers.

With the airport sitting on prime property of about 600 hectares, ongoing efforts to acquire runway rights to some 1.6 ha for large aircraft and another 25 ha to expand aprons and build additional terminals would increase connectivity. All these are within the realm of executive action.

Much more needs to be done to make our airport a pleasant place for leave-taking and homecoming. Once again, let me disclose that I continue to help out with the action agenda to dramatically make the Naia a jewel of the Pearl of the Orient.

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Geronimo L. Sy is a former assistant secretary at the Department of Justice.