Sangley Airport Opens in 2019

Start of Something Big

16 September 2016

Sangley airport in Cavite will be open to civilian traffic beginning 2019, top transport official disclosed Wednesday.

Transport Secretary Art Tugade said that budget for the Sangley airport improvement projects and Philippine Air Force (PAF) relocation has already been earmarked for next year paving the opening of the airport for civilian flights.

The airport is expected to cater general aviation and domestic turboprop flights from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) that will be relocated to former Air Force complex beginning 2019. In the meantime, they will be relocated to Clark airport to minimize runway congestion.

Tugade said construction will begin next year which covers airside and landside developments to support the expected traffic flow. Runway upgrade, taxiway and apron provisions will form part of the first phase while hangarage, terminal building, and navigation facilities will comprise the second phase of development expected to commence construction in 2018.

Right of Way (ROW) acquisitions for road expansions leading to Cavite airport from Cavite Expressway is expected to be addressed in the emergency powers the Executive Department is preparing for Congress approval.

The airport facility is projected to be ready in three years time.

Meanwhile, phase 1 of Clark International Airport's new low cost terminal building that has projected terminal capacity of 8 million passengers per annum (ppa) when fully completed will begin construction this year with a budget of 2.1 billion pesos and should be ready in 2017. They are expected to cater overflow domestic and international passenger traffic out of NAIA.

Tugade said a railway component (Northrail) to support the development of Clark airport is already under construction through JICA assistance all the way to Malolos, Bulacan from Tutuban, and it only needs extension approval all the way to Clark for the project to be feasible. It should be completed in 2022 together with the new terminal project when approved.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier rejected the plan by Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) to build an 8 million passenger terminal designed by Aeroport de Paris (ADP) at contract price of 15 billion because it was “too ambitious” for eight million passengers who are expected to use the airport by year 2022. The board has instead decided to implement, on staggered basis, three phases for the anticipated 8 million passenger capacity, with the second phase available only when it should surpass the 5 million mark.

According to the master plan prepared by the French company, development of Clark airport will involve a P7.2-billion yearly investment to increase capacity to 80 million passengers annually by 2032. The plan assumes closure of Manila airport.

In 2016 however, the airport is expected to handle only less than a million passengers out of the existing 5 million ppa terminal capacity making it a white elephant project.