Worth the wait

It has been almost a year since the government handed over to the private sector the task of operating, managing, and rehabilitating the country's premier international gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

- MARY ANN LL. REYES

Since 1982 until September of last year, it was a government corporation called the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) that had been running NAIA, the Philippines' largest and busiest airport. It was also one of the worst airports in the region, plagued by issues ranging from overcapacity, flight delays, chaos, extortion by its personnel, outdated systems, as well as other operational issues.

Then Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista explained that it was urged for NAIA to improve to accommodate the resurgent demand for air travel. NAIA, he emphasized, is a very congested airport with the capacity of 35 million passengers per year but is handling almost 50 million.

Tourism was and continues to be a vital sector of the Philippine economy. Last year, the tourism industry contributed 8.9 percent of the gross domestic product. The country needed an airport that could help tourism grow. After all, airports are crucial in shaping the tourist experience from arrival to departure, serving as the first and last points of contact for international visitors.

"Having an efficient air transport infrastructure and an enabling air transport sector is important for a developing country like the Philippines, where tourism is a major contributor to the economy and provides employment opportunities for the population. Perhaps, the air transport's most valuable contribution to the Philippine economy is its role as the backbone of the tourism industry," according to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

Last year, a consortium led by San Miguel Corp. (SMC) together with the operator of South Korea's Incheon airport bagged a 15-year concession to rehabilitate and operate NAIA in a deal that not only promised the government P900 billion in revenues but also at least P122.3 billion of private sector investments into the upgrading of NAIA into world-class standards, a win-win deal for everyone involved.