Bursting At The Seams

PAL Offers To Expand Terminal 2

10 February 2015

But its easier said than done while DOTC ponders Terminal 5


Frustrated by delaying tactics employed by the Transport Department (DOTC) and its well known desire to build Terminal 5 instead of expanding Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, the Lucio Tan owned carrier is studying the possibility of paying for the expansion of their rented house instead.

Philippine Airlines is proposing to fund the $200-million expansion plan for Centennial Terminal 2 to accommodate its ever increasing number of international passengers which are beginning to get overcrowded after the airline embarked on a massive expansion drive supported by aircraft acquisitions in 2012.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said they are willing to fund the proposed Terminal 2 (north) expansion project that would extend the north wing portion of the terminal to the current Village Hotel building.

DOTC has pending plans to expand Terminal 2 in both directions with price tag of $300 million but is torn between expansion and building another terminal.

The extension terminal building expected to cater at least 10 million more passengers a year until 2025 is to be used exclusively for its long haul international flights.

The problem however is securing the right to expand the terminal as government construction works depends upon its circuitous procurement law which necessitates open and competitive public building that takes years to complete, while PAL wants it build as soon as the end of the year if they have their way.

Terminal 2 was build by Aeroport de Paris with projected capacity of 7 million passengers in 1999. Currently it is serving close to eight million passengers in 2014 (7.03m). It was supposed to be expanded this year until the project was shelved for unknown reason.

Bautista said they already secured exclusive parking rights to the newly build apron that will cost the airline some P600 million in parking fees for the next 25 years to accommodate all its arriving aircraft which has been seen of late to take apron parking intended for international cargo operations beside terminal 1.

PAL currently parks all its aircraft at Lufthansa Tecknik apron stands waiting for their next scheduled flights.

Bautista laments that parked aircraft cannot easily be retrieved for scheduled flights at LTP particularly when runway 24 is active due to runway and taxiway congestion. He also said that building a new terminal across LTP will not solve runway congestion considering also that both PAL and CEB maintenance are all located on the opposite side of the runway.

1 comment:

  1. here we go again O_o
    why can't the government see the urgency of this matter. these past few days was checking flightradar and saw planes, waiting for their turn to land at naia. take note they just don't go on circles once but several times waiting for their turn. hayz... very time consuming as well as fuel. bad for the environment as well. tsk!

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