Transfer of Private Planes To Sangley Set

February 9, 2013

By Kris Bayos

MANILA, Philippines --- There will be no more private aircraft operating in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Complex by 2015 as the government gradually transfers their operations to Sangley Airport in Cavite City, airport authorities said on Friday.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Jose Angel Honrado confirmed the statement of Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, saying private planes will vacate hangars inside the crowded NAIA complex and no longer compete for the usage of the in-demand NAIA runways together with big aircraft.

Honrado said the transfer of the general aviation services to Sangley Airport in Cavite is expected for completion by 2015.

“We plan to transfer the general aviation to Sangley and it will be completed by 2015,” he said.

But Honrado, in a previous interview, said the transfer of general aviation to Sangley in Cavite will only commence with the completion and operation of Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental to

accommodate the commercial flights in Cagayan de Oro Airport.

This is because the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will have to move to Cagayan de Oro Airport to free up its airbase in Sangley, Cavite City, which will in turn accommodate the general aviation services that will move out of NAIA.

“It will be a sequential movement,” Honrado said.

The official said the sequential movement of the general aviation services to the PAF base in Sangley was already approved by the Department of National Defense in a memorandum of agreement that it forged with the Department of Transportation and Communications.

The diversion of general aviation services away from NAIA is the Aquino Administration’s solution to decongest the jampacked complex, which caters to domestic and international flights, chartered private flights and even fish runs, which transport fresh sea products using light aircraft.

According to the MIAA, the general aviation space and hangars occupy at least 44 hectares within NAIA. These services include air charter, air cargo, aviation training, aircraft maintenance and corporate flight operations. The area was leased by MIAA under its mandate.

Fish runs have already moved operations to Sangley since May and the runway use of general aviation services as well as flying schools was already limited to off-peak hours to reduce the demand.  Honrado said he was given word that flying schools operating within NAIA will be moving to different locations starting 2013.

Honrado said the sequential movement requirement of the general aviation services is causing procedural delay in the decongestion of NAIA.

“But we see still the complete movement of the general aviation, flying schools, and fish runs out of NAIA within the term of President Aquino,” Honrado said, referring to May 2016, when the President’s six-year term ends.

Last July, former Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas said about 90 percent of Laguindingan Airport’s civil works have been completed by the South Korea-based Yooshin Engineering Corp., the SCHEMA Konsult, Inc., and the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Ltd.

However, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center has yet to bid out operation and maintenance of the airport facility.