DMIA is premier airport

By Mia M. Gonzalez
Business Mirror Reporter
(30 January 2008)

PRESIDENT Arroyo wants the draft of an executive order (EO) mandating open skies completed in a month, and has given the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) up to a year to turn the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) into the country’s premier international airport in preparation for the eventual closure of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said Tuesday the President issued the directive at the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)-Cabinet Group meeting.
She issued the twin orders to DOTC chief Leandro Mendoza and chief presidential counsel Sergio Apostol.
“The President gave a directive that DMIA would be the premier airport already of the country,” Fajardo said in a news briefing after the Cabinet meeting.
She said Mendoza reported to the Cabinet that the Naia will be “downgraded and eventually closed down.”
The President gave a time frame of six months up to one year to turn the DMIA into the country’s premier airport, which would support her bid to turn Clark and Subic Freeports as the regional logistics hub and the new international gateways of the country.
Fajardo said the designation of DMIA as the premier airport was recommended by the DOTC and the Department of Tourism.
The recommendation was prompted by congestion at the Naia, which cannot be solved as there is no room for expansion.
Fajardo said that even if the controversial Naia Terminal 3 were to eventually become operational, it would still not be enough to handle the volume of traffic.
“We really have to prepare for the future. We can see in some studies that even if Terminal 3 is opened, we would still need (another international airport),” she said.
The DMIA is one of the biggest aviation complexes in Asia, with its two 3.2-kilometer parallel runways that will be extended to four kilometers to accommodate new-generation wide-bodied aircraft.
The DMIA is certified by the International Civil Aviation Organization with ratings of Category 1 for Precision Approach Runway and Category 9 for the Emergency Services.
Fajardo also said that preparations for the presidential directive include the EO on an open-skies policy, which will be reviewed by concerned officials in view of the “best policy” that would give the Philippines a competitive edge over neighboring countries.
Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan of the Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council said that the EO would liberalize air traffic over the DMIA and the Subic International Airport.
Pamintuan said in a statement that the President also instructed the DOTC to study the aviation policies of Vietnam, whose tourism industry has grown dramatically.