DOTr Confirms Sangley Opening by Yearend

11 June 2019

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to complete rehabilitation works at the former military air base in Cavite by yearend. (See our breaking report here)

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered its immediate opening as soon as possible to decongest traffic at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the plan to transfer general aviation and domestic propeller flights to Sangley Point will begin immediately after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAP) completes its Airport Certification as early as November.

Transporation Undersecretary Manuel Tamayo said the opening of Sangley Point in December will help ease congestion at NAIA as general aviation and propeller flights are no longer be allowed to operate at the country's main gateway.

DOTr also said they already initiated the testing of fast ferries that can operate from Mall of Asia to Sangley within 18-24 minutes direct to the new Sangley Passenger Terminal building for use by passengers of affected airlines operating turboprop planes.

Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista said that they will transfer all of its turboprop operations to Sangley once the airport is open to civilian traffic this year. (see our earlier report here)

PAF Presents Future Assets in next 5 years

7 June 2019

Bulacan Airport To have Express Train

6 June 2019

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is all set to construct the new US$10 billion Manila International airport in Bulacan by fourth quarter of this year after it is awarded concession agreement by the government on July 31, 2019.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has issued tenders to the public on April 12, 2019 to submit bids under a Swiss challenge bidding process, comparative proposals to finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain the project under a 50-year concession period, made by San Miguel Corp. to build New Manila International Airport in Bulacan in the amount of 735.6 Billion Pesos.

SMC President Ramon Ang said Wednesday that they already set aside 100 Billion pesos to begin laying the ground works by raising 2,500 hectares of land for the airport at the end of the year and build the two parallel runways to be completed in three years time.

Also set for construction next year is the main terminal building boasting 60 boarding gates and 20 remotes that can hold and accommodate 35 million passengers per annum under Phase 1 of the airport project which is expected to be fully completed in seven year time frame.

Ang said they already entered Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with airport operator Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) that will work together with SMC in designing and running the airport.

SMC also entered another MOU to an undisclosed airline that shall relocate to the airport after it partly opens to the public in 2024. It expects 20 million passengers to use the airport on its opening date.

San Miguel also confirmed plans to spend additional US$5 billion for the construction of airport express train all the way to EDSA after airlines requested said service as conditions for their relocation, in addition to the expressway that will be constructed. The planned train system will span some 20 kilometers. SMC undertook to build an expressway that will link its airport to the North Luzon Expressway in Marilao, Bulacan and the coastal expressway linking Navotas to Manila.

The express train is not part of the proposal submitted by SMC to NEDA but was added to the project after talks with airline partner. They are also submitted to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for consideration and approval.

Ang said the express train would translate to travel time of only 15 minutes from EDSA to Bulacan and 1 hour to Makati by Expressway through the north-south connector.

SMC has likewise submitted to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) a P10-billion proposal to redevelop the Pandacan oil depot into a bus and food terminal complex (FT) hub that will divert all provincial buses from the North to enter Manila through the skyway and terminate services in Pandacan, Manila.

“The airport train and the mega-bus terminal is integrated project with the airport,” says Ramon Ang.

“ We have submitted the proposal to Transportation Secretary Tugade, were in discussion with him, we’ve consulted with him, and we have both come up with good ideas how to help the public transport to be better,” he said.

New Manila International Airport is projected to handle 100 million passengers per annum by 2050.

Computer Glitch Delays NAIA Traffic

5 June 2019

A total of 80 flights, both domestic and international, were delayed due to a computer glitch that affected the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) computer system Tuesday morning.

The programming bug which is not disclosed by CAAP for security reasons resulted in reduced arrival and departure rate of aircrafts for about 30 minutes as ATMC personnel scrambled to manually guide aircraft for arrival and take-off.

CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco said the incident prompted the activation of contingency standard procedures, which is done manually to space out flight sequences in order to maintain safe separation of air traffic at Manila Airspace.

Romero Consolidates Stake At Philippines AirAsia

4 June 2019

Michael Romero has raised its stake at Air Asia Philippines to 44.4% from the previous 15.7% to become the dominant stockholder of the airline after F&S Holdings Inc. bought 15.7-percent share of AAI Chairman Marianne Hontiveros, and 13-percent share of Alfredo Yao for a combined 28.7 percent additional stake at parent Air Asia Inc. (AAI), operator of low-cost carrier Air Asia Philippines.

AAI parent Malaysia AirAsia International Ltd.’s share will stand at 39.9 percent stake and TNR Holdings of Tony Boy Cojuanco at 15.7 percent share, respectively. The amount of sale was not disclosed.

After the buyout, F&S Holdings intends to increase capitalization of Air Asia Philippines as it plans to issue $17 million worth of common shares and P17 billion worth of preferred shares.

Its corporate restructuring is set to be completed by September as it targets to go public within the year and raise $200 million to support its aircraft acquisition and use the proceeds as working capital. There will be no immediate change in the AirAsia Philippines board.

“We plan to put a valuation of about $600 million for the company,” Romero said. “We float at least 20 percent.”

This exercise will help the company raise roughly P10 billion, which will be used to acquire new planes and for general working capital.

Romero expressed bullishness on Philippines Air Asia’s capacity to return to profitability after posting a strong financial performance in the first three months of the year.

“Our first-quarter has hit a record-high of about…P6.68 billion and profit about P450 million…” Michael said.

The company eyes boosting Philippines AirAsia’s fleet to 50 A320 airplanes from the current 23 within the next three years.

“We now have 23 airplanes, and we plan to have 50 airplanes within the next three years. We also want our revenues to grow from P30 billion this year to P50 billion within three years,” Romero said.

The airline is also looking to raise the number of its passengers to 8 million this year from last year’s 7 million by growing its international routes to China and Japan.

Airport Expenditure For 2019

24 May 2019

AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
2019
ITEM	AIRPORT	ALLOCATION	REMARKS
1	CATBALOGAN	450 Million
2	DAVAO	315 Million	Parallel Taxiway
3	MLANG	92 Million	Taxiway & Apron
4	PANGLAO	754 Million	ILS
5	SIARGAO	500 Million	Land Acquisition NA
6	TACLOBAN	50 Million	Apron
TOTAL		2.1 Billion

Cancelled Airport projects include DVOR installations for Pagadian and Dipolog airports, and Navaids for Cauayan and Cotabato which were cut in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) due to budgetary constrains. It would make the affected airports night rated capable of handling night flights.

"They cannot have evening flights for now…. But we will incorporate the project [to night-rate four airports] next year together with the next airports on the lists." Aviation Undersecretary Manuel Antonio Tamayo said.

Night-rated airports allows planes to land in the evening under the visual flight rules and visual weather conditions says Tamayo.

DOTr aims to night-rate 5 airports every year under the aviation program of the government until all 44 commercial airports are night rated.

Royal Air Opens Cebu Hub

8 May 2019

Royal Air Philippines is launching 5 new routes from Cebu on May 20, which include the following destination:

Cebu – Cagayan de Oro eff 21MAY19 3 weekly
RW698 CEB0645 – 0745CGY 146 246
RW699 CGY0830 – 0930CEB 146 246

Cebu – Caticlan eff 21MAY19 3 weekly
RW656 CEB1015 – 1110MPH 146 246
RW657 MPH1155 – 1250CEB 146 246

Cebu – Davao eff 20MAY19 4 weekly
RW678 CEB0645 – 0830DVO 146 x246
RW679 DVO0915 – 1100CEB 146 x246

Cebu – Manila eff 21MAY19 1 daily
RW202 CEB2345 – 0115+1MNL 146 D
RW201 MNL0435 – 0600CEB 146 D

Cebu – Puerto Princesa eff 20MAY19 4 weekly
RW646 CEB1145 – 1315PPS 146 x246
RW647 PPS1400 – 1530CEB 146 x246

The airline which operate a fleet of three (3) BAE146-100 currently flies from Clark to Caticlan and Puerto Princesa with charter services to Lallo airport in Cagayan and Basco Batanes.

PN Submarine Hunter Arrives in PH Shores

7 May 2019

Two AgustaWestland AW-159 Wildcat helicopters intended for the Philippine Navy's anti-submarine operations was delivered this morning from the United Kingdom. The AW159 Wildcat anti-submarine warfare helicopters will have its station in the new frigates under construction in South Korea.