The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has completed the terminal reassignments at the country’s main gateway, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which expands the terminal’s capacity.
MIAA said yesterday it has concluded the reassignments under its Schedule and Terminal Assignment Rationalization (STAR) program that began on December 1, 2022, with the transfer of Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights to and from the United States, Canada, Middle East and Bali to Terminal 1.
NAIA Terminal 2 now exclusively caters to domestic flights as it is now home to local flights operated by PAL, AirAsia and Royal Air.
On July 1, AirAsia Philippines and Royal Air Philippines moved their domestic flights to NAIA Terminal 2 while Sunlight Air relocated to NAIA Terminal 4.
“This change benefits both our domestic and international passengers. With NAIA Terminal 2 now handling domestic flights only, CIQ (Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine) personnel have been redistributed to NAIA Terminals 1 and 3 as additional deployment.
This shall ensure maximum manning of these posts especially at peak hours,” said Bryan Co, MIAA officer-in-charge.
“The removal of the initial screening and clearing of the immigration area of its counters is expected to increase Terminal 2’s capacity from 7.5 million to 10 million passengers per year due to additional space,” Co added.
On the other hand, passengers at NAIA Terminals 1 and 3 have a wider selection of food and retail stores and more time for duty-free shopping. MIAA said new restaurants are also expected to open within the year.
From its previous congested state, NAIA Terminal 4 is now converted into a turbo-prop terminal serving Cebu Pacific (CEB) unit Cebgo, AirSWIFT and Sunlight Air.
Meantime, MIAA said it continues to work towards expanding the capacity of Terminal 2, and the domestic operations of CEB will remain in Terminals 3 and 4.
As discussed with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) during the planning stages of the STAR program, MIAA said it remains committed to expanding the immigration area in NAIA Terminal 3.
Terminal 3 started the year with 26 departure immigration counters and has since increased to 36 counters in time for the last phase of the STAR program, MIAA said. An additional eight counters will be made available next week bringing the total to 44 Immigration counters for NAIA’s busiest terminal.
MIAA added that it aims to complete by December this year the construction of an immigration annex adjacent to BI’s present site, where 24 more immigration officers can be deployed.
Once completed, the annex will serve as a processing area for overseas Filipino workers, person with disabilities, senior citizens and diplomats.
MIAA said this is to support the BI as its partner in bringing higher levels of service to NAIA passengers.
Once finished, MIAA said it is set to reconfigure the immigration and final security screening areas interchanging their current locations. This will hasten processing times thereby affording passengers more hours to do pre-boarding shopping or grab a bite at nearby food outlets.
“The STAR Program can be likened to a metamorphosis. We are evolving into a new form — a transformation from what we have been accustomed to all these years. To all of our stakeholders, we seek their continued support. Like in any change, systems are still not perfect altogether but we are striving really hard to reach the ideal state of airport operations,” said Co.
