Manila - Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA),Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino,/ˈnaɪ.ə/), (IATA: MNL, ICAO: RPLL) is the airport serving the general area of Manila and its surrounding metropolitan area. Located along the border between Pasay and Parañaque, about seven kilometers south of Manila proper, and southwest of Makati, NAIA is the main international gateway for travelers to the Philippines and is the hub for all Philippine airlines. It is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a branch of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
Officially, NAIA is the only airport serving the Manila area. However, in practice, both NAIA and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), located in the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles, Pampanga serve the Manila area, with DMIA catering mostly to low-cost carriers that avail themselves of the lower landing fees than those charged at NAIA. In the long term DMIA is set to replace NAIA as the primary airport of the Philippines. The airport is named after the late Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated at the airport in 1983. In 2009 the airport saw growth of 11.4% to 24.1 million passengers, making it the 51st in the world's busiest airports by passenger traffic.
The original airport that served Manila, the Manila International Air Terminal, was opened in July 1937 at Nielson Field, the runways of which now form Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati. In 1948, following Philippine independence, the airport was moved to its current site adjacent to the Villamor Airbase, which was then called Nichols Field. The original structure was built on what is now the site of the present-day Terminal 2.
In 1954 the airport's international runway and associated taxiway were built, and in 1961 the construction of a control tower and a terminal building for the use of international passengers was completed. In 1972 a fire caused substantial damage to the original terminal building, and a slightly smaller terminal was rebuilt in its place the following year. This second terminal would become the country's international terminal until 1981 when a new, higher-capacity terminal, known today as Terminal 1, was built to replace it.
Terminal 1
The development of the Manila International Airport was finally approved through the promulgation of Executive Order No. 381, which authorized the airport's development. In 1973, a feasibility study/airport master plan was done by Airways Engineering Corporation through a US$29.6 million loan from the Asian Development Bank. The Detailed Engineering Design of the New Manila International Airport Development Project was done by Renardet-Sauti/Transplan/F.F. Cruz Consultant while the terminal's Detailed Architectural Design was prepared by Leandro Locsin's L.V. Locsin and Associates.
In 1974, the detailed designs were adopted by the Philippine Government and was subsequently approved by the Asian Development Bank on September 18, 1975. Actual work on the terminal began during the second quarter of 1978. The terminal was completed in 1981 and had a size of 67,000 square meters with a design capacity of 4.5 million passengers per year. It currently serves all non-Philippine Airlines and non-Cebu Pacific international flights. In 1989, a Master Plan Review recommended the construction of two new terminals (NAIA 2 and NAIA 3), as well as many other facility improvements.
Terminal 2 (Centennial Terminal)
The second terminal, NAIA-2, located at the Old MIA Road, was completed in 1998 and began operations in 1999. It has been named the Centennial Terminal in commemoration of the centennial year of the declaration of Philippine independence. The 75,000-square-meter terminal was originally designed by Aéroports de Paris to be a domestic terminal, but the design was later modified to accommodate international flights. It has a capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year in its international wing and 5 million in its domestic wing, it is possible to accommodate nine million passengers per year if required.
Terminal 2 is for the exclusive terminal of Philippine Airlines and is used for both its domestic and international flights. It is divided into Two wings: the North Wing, which handles international flights, and the South Wing, which handles domestic flights. It currently has 12 air bridges. There are several cafes and restaurants scattered around the Terminal post-security and include Cafe Nescafe and Cafe Delifrance. There is also a (very) small duty-free section in the north wing. The need for two more terminals was proposed by a Master Plan Review of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that was undertaken in 1989 by Aéroports de Paris (ADP), which was facilitated through a grant from the French Government. The review cost 2.9 million French francs and was submitted to the Philippine Government for evaluation in 1990.
In 1991, the French government granted a 30 million franc soft loan to the Government of the Philippines, which was to be used to cover the Detailed Architectural and Engineering Design of the NAIA Terminal 2. ADP completed the design in 1992 and in 1994, the Japanese Government granted an 18.12 billion yen soft loan to the Philippine Government to finance 75% of the terminal's construction costs and 100% of the supervision costs. Construction of the terminal began on December 11, 1995, and was formally turned over to the government of the Philippines on December 28, 1998.
Terminal 3
The third terminal of the airport, Terminal 3 or NAIA-3, is the newest and biggest terminal in the NAIA complex, wherein construction started in 1997. It was one of the most controversial projects the Philippine government has become involved with. Legal battles, red tape, arbitration cases in both the United States and Singapore, as well as technical and safety concerns delayed the opening several times.
The terminal officially opened to selected domestic flights from 22 July 2008 (initially Cebu Pacific only, then Philippine Airlines' subsidiaries Air Philippines and PAL Express), with Cebu Pacific international flights using it from August 1, 2008. All international operations, except for those from PAL, are intended to operate from Terminal 3 in the future, originally proposed to move in fourth quarter of 2010,however domestic carriers Cebu Pacific and Airphil Express (then Air Philippines) remained the only tennants for the first two years of its operation. The vast majority of international flights still operate from Terminal 1, with All Nippon Airways being the first (and so far only, as of April 2011) overseas-based carrier to operate out of Terminal 3.
Structure
Terminal 3 is built on a 63.5-hectare lot that sits on Villamor Air Base. The terminal building has a total floor area of 182,500 m², having a total length of 1.2 kilometers. A four-level shopping mall connects the terminal and parking buildings. The parking building has a capacity of 2,000 cars while the outdoor parking area has a capacity of 1,200 cars. The terminal is capable of servicing 33,000 passengers daily at peak or 6,000 passengers per hour.
Its apron area has a size of 147,400 m², 34 air bridges, 20 contact gates with the ability of servicing 28 planes at any given time. The terminal has 70 flight information terminals, 314 display monitors, with 300 kilometers of fiber optic I.T. cabling. It also has 29 restroom blocks. The departure area has five entrances all equipped with X-ray machines with the final security check having 18 X-ray machines. Its baggage claim has 7 large baggage carousels, each with its own flight display monitor.
Domestic Termina.
This terminal is host to all domestic flights within the Philippines that are operated by Zest Air and South East Asian Airlines. There are no jet bridges and passengers walk to and from the aircraft or are occasionally bussed. Twenty-six Check-in counters are located in the Terminal, the arrival terminal has the seating capacity for 969 people at a time. Several food stores and a book and magazine stall are also available. Five baggage carousels are located in the terminal whilst Domestic airline offices, banks, restaurants and a grocery store are also located right beside the Domestic passenger terminal.The Domestic Terminal on the old Airport Road was built in 1948 and is located near the north end of Runway 13/31. An old hangar has since been annexed to the terminal.
Runways
NAIA has a primary runway (3,737 m) running at 061°/241° (designated as Runway 06/24) and a secondary runway (2,258 m) running at 136°/316° (designated as Runway 13/31). On October 11, 2007, NAIA witnessed the debut of the Airbus A380 in the Philippines, after test aircraft MSN009 landed on NAIA's primary runway. The test flight proved that the A380 could be flown in existing runways in Asia, and that the primary international airport of the Philippines can support aircraft as large as the A380.
Other structures
The airport also serves as a gateway facility of the logistics company DHL, and hosts the aircraft repair and maintenance facilities of German firm Lufthansa Technik AG, a division of Lufthansa.
Ground transportation
Taxi service is available to NAIA from all points of Metro Manila. Also, several bus routes directly serve the airport complex, either serving Terminals 1 and 2, Terminal 3 and the Domestic Terminal, or Terminal 3 exclusively. Some of the bus routes are also served by jeepneys. A shuttle bus system connects all four terminals for the convenience of passengers who have onward connections on flights departing from another terminal. The airport is also accessible, albeit indirectly, by rail: Baclaran station of the Manila Light Rail Transit System and Nichols station of the Philippine National Railways both serve the airport complex.
In the future, with the extension of the existing Yellow Line, a new station, Manila International Airport station, is set to connect the airport, albeit still indirectly, to the LRT. The NAIA Expressway or NAIA Skyway connecting NAIA/Sales Exit of Metro Manila Skyway and Andrews Avenue in front of Terminal 3. Terminal 3 is served by Sales Exit of South Luzon Expressway and the NAIA Road-Roxas Boulevard Intersection of Coastal Road serving Terminals 1 and 2 and Domestic Terminal.
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