Government taps British company to solve runway congestion at NAIA

The Philippine government has tapped the expertise of a global leader in air traffic control to solve the runway congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has awarded the P66-million NAIA Runway Optimization Project to the joint venture between NATS Services Limited and Schema Konsult, Inc.

British firm NATS handles London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports, which accommodate 53 air traffic movements (ATMs) per hour and over 250,000 flights per year, and 90 ATMs per hour and over 470,000 flights per year, respectively.

Globally, NATS is renowned for boosting runway capacity at the Hong Kong International Airport by 30 percent. It also redesigned Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport’s airspace, and is now tasked to increase ATMs at the Singapore Changi Airport.

“We are excited to work with one of the world’s best firms in the industry towards optimizing NAIA’s runway capacity. With NATS – which has worked on the Dubai, Singapore, and Heathrow Airports – we can expect safer, more efficient operations, and much less flight delays and cancellations,” DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a statement.

Under the P66-million NAIA Runway Optimization Project, the winning consultant will increase NAIA’s ATMs from 40 to 60 over a 12-month period. In the first six months of the contract, NATS will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of NAIA’s current airspace, runway, and terminal capacities; air traffic and surface operations; runway access points; and air traffic control training.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) will then implement the recommended improvement measures over the ensuing six months.

Through the project, the government expects short- and long-term improvements such as optimization of runway capacity by cutting aircrafts’ occupancy period; development of Air Traffic Controllers’ (ATC) surveillance capabilities through technology and determining needed alterations to access points; and maximization of available airspace by reducing restrictions and making procedural improvements to tighten intervals between aircraft movements.

Apart from this endeavor, the government is also planning to privatize the expansion, operation, and maintenance of the country’s premiere gateway through the P74.6-billion NAIA Development Project.

A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project pending for approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, the NAIA Development Project aims to improve, upgrade and enhance the operational efficiencies of all existing terminals of the NAIA covering both landside and airside to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.

With four passenger terminal buildings, NAIA recorded 32 million passengers in 2013. Abaya earlier said the winner of the the NAIA Development Project will also be responsible for building a fifth passenger terminal. It is not immediately clear how much additional capacity the fifth terminal will contribute but based on the study of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, NAIA, at its present state, will reach its maximum capacity by 2018 or 2020.