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Subic Needs 1 Billion To Work Again

21 September 2018



Subic International Airports (SIA) needs 1 Billion pesos of capital infusion to work again full time, according to the Transport Ministry.

Usec.for Aviation and Airports Manuel Antonio L. Tamayo said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is now in the process of setting up a multi-million rehabilitation program to procure various navigational, landing, and communications equipment for the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA).

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency has procured a new 51-million Automated Weather Observation System (Awos), which provides continuous, real-time information on weather conditions.

Eisma added that it has allocated some 502 million in the 2019 budget for various navigational, landing, and communications equipment that will replace the old facilities due to obsolescence.

Another 232 million worth of new equipment will also be needed for the airport terminal to work according to Eisma. These include x-ray machines, closed-circuit television, ambulance, sweeper truck, flight information display system, fire detection and alarm system, aerial platform, and pickup trucks and passenger vans.

Senator Richard Gordon earlier slammed DOTr for not using Subic Airport as alternate airport for Manila when it was closed for international wide-body traffic due to Xiamen Air aircraft incursion to the active runway.

Tamayo disclosed that Subic Airport is not really a full weather airport due to deficiency of its facilities. DOTr added that some of the airports equipment like the ILS were moved to Manila Airport in 2010 as replacement parts for its ageing ILS equipment that was knocked down by typhoon before it was replaced with a new one in 2016.

Subic airport was built in 1951 as the US Navy’s Naval Air Station Cubi Point. It was converted into a commercial airport in 1992 and transferred to SBMA under the stewardship of then Chairman and now Senator Richard Gordon.

SBMA spent almost US$100 million to upgrade and expand its runway, as it also added a $12.6-million passenger terminal in 1996. It's main anchor tenant was American cargo giant Federal Express until 2009.

The Subic airfield facility boast a 2,744-meter runway with full taxiway and can take 24 wide-body aircraft for parking at any given time, while two passenger tubes at the terminal building can process 700 passengers per hour. The airport can also accommodate almost all types of modern aircraft at more than 20 movements per hour when it was fully operational in 1998. It has since become a shadow of its past.

6 comments:

  1. PHP1B inclussive of kickbacks and commissions.. Projects in PH, more fun for the thieves

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  2. Its only 20% kickback is the going rate. Not like Mikey Arroyo 40% on broadband.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. But still there's kickback

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  3. Million dollar question: will commercial airlines fly in/out of Subic Airport? It will be useless when it will just sit idle.

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    1. Charters. Not regular scheduled flight. The plan is to restore it to cater CARGO and MRO initially. Most important of all, restoration as a back up airport in case of NAIA shutdown.

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