A Proposed Rendering for a New Airport for Metro Manila

Having recently been named as one of the world's worst airports, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is in dire need of a replacement. 

Terminal 1, used by international flights of all foreign airlines (except All Nippon Airways), has been around since the early 1980s and is gong through a slow process of decay. The terminal has also long exceeded its passenger capacity years ago, thus Terminal 3 was constructed to ease the congestion at Terminal 1. However, as most if us may know, the construction of this Terminal has been surrounded by controversy, thus the terminal still cannot operate at full capacity. So far, only Cebu Pacific, AirPhil Express, and All Nippon Airways use their terminal. Although it has been reported that more foreign airlines would transfer to this "new" terminal by next year, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is now faced with another problem--runway congestion, which has been a result of the increasing number of airlines and flights operation to and from NAIA which has then resulted to numerous delays in the arrival and departure of aircraft. There is no more room for expansion here (where an additonal runway would have helped ease this problem), since houses or other buildings have already been built in the areas immediately surrounding the airport. There are some people who have realized the need to build a new airport complex to replace NAIA.

Although some have proposed Clark International Airport in Angeles, Pampanga to be a replacement, others have argued that it is just too far from Manila, and this would be an inconvenience to those from Manila who would need to use the airport. Recently, San Miguel Corporation, which has just purchased Philippine Airlines and has acquired a stake in the company, has announced plans to build a new airport complex closer to Metro Manila (but still outside it). This new airport complex would have four runways, and a large terminal capable of handling 100 million passengers a year. Although this remains to be a "plan" as of now, many are hoping that this new airport would prevent the problems that have been bugging the NAIA, which would hopefully give the country's tourism industry a boost. For now, we have nothing yet to do but to wait and see if this would actually happen.

For now, though, I leave you guys with a proposed rendering for a new airport complex for Metro Manila, posted by YouTube user agilailawpsg06 four months ago on YouTube. The proposed design is very impressive, with a large, futuristic airport terminal that could easily rival some of the best international airports in Asia, such as the ones in Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Let's just hope that this would actually be taken into consideration. This would certainly be a pleasant change from what travelers to/from the Philippines are experiencing now.