DOTr To Open NMIA in 2027

Will have MNL as IATA Designation 

19 November 2022

The P735 Billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) located in Bulacan will carry the MNL IATA designation when it opens to the public in 2027, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said NMIA will be the largest airport in the Philippines and will replace NAIA as International Gateway to Manila.

It will also carry the MNL IATA designation replacing Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which will have a new IATA designation. It did not disclosed the new NAIA designation. It did not also disclosed the four letter ICAO designation and whether it was also transferred.

DOTr said NMIA land development is gaining headway in its civil works reaching 42 percent completion as transport officials inspected the civil works undertaken by San Miguel Aerocity Inc. (SMAI), a subsidiary of San Miguel Holdings Corp., the infrastructure arm of San Miguel Corporation, the country's biggest conglomerate.

The DOTr said SMAI expects to finish the land development works for the 1,693-hectare site by the end of 2024 and intends to proceed with the construction of the airport airside and landside developments with the goal of opening the airport to the public by 2027.

According to airport terminal designs submitted to DOTr this year, NMIA can accommodate at least 35 million passengers per year at its opening date, and is expected to create more than one million jobs in Central Luzon.

NMIA is owned by the National Government. It awarded a 50-year concession agreement to SMAI which will bankroll, design, construct, complete, test, commission, operate and maintain the NMIA.

After SMC’s franchise expires, airport terminal operations will be taken over by the government.

The airport project has a design capacity of up to 100 million passengers annually, which will decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the country’s current main aviation gateway.