Poor infra impedes air travel industry growth
Philippines Air Asia CEO Dexter Comendador underscored the poor air travel infrastructure in the Philippines as a key factor hampering the full potential of the country's tourism industry.
Comendador stressed that what's lacking in the Philippines is really infrastructure, saying it already has the talent pool including pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel, and the increasing airplanes.
The top airline executive urged the administration of President Duterte to modernize the country's regional airports to decongest the main international airport in Manila.
"What we need to do is modernize our airports," he said.
"We know we have more tourists spots than other ASEAN countries like Vietnam," he said, but despite this the Philippines is getting less foreign travelers compared to its ASEAN counterparts mainly because of airport infrastructure constraints.
He cited, for instance, Vietnam which has good airports capable of accommodating big aircraft even in the remote provinces of the country.
He said Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has a big dream to bringing in more tourists in the Philippines.
The ASEAN open skies policy will facilitate more di- rect flights to and from major ASEAN destinations and enhance regional trade, which makes it imperative for the Philippines to improve its air travel infrastructure to keep up with growth.
"We need to make our airports bigger so we can accommodate bigger planes. Bigger planes mean more tourists," Comendador said.
He said the modernization of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country's second busiest airport, is a good start.
"We can bring tourists to Cebu. Manila is too crowded," he said
In April 2014, GMRMegawide Cebu Airport C, the consortium between Megawide and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd., won the P17.5-billion concession to rehabilitate and manage MCIA for 25 years, including the construction of a second terminal for international passengers.
The Terminal 2 construction is ongoing and is expected to be operational by end of June 2018.
GMCAC took over operations of MCIA in November 2014. It is also undertaking renovations in Terminal 1 to improve operating efficiency..
The government's next priority, he said, should be the modernization of Davao and Puerto Princesa international airports.
The government earlier asked investors to bid for some P700 million worth of airport projects that will help improve the facilities of the country's regional air points.
Last September 23, the Department of Transportation called on private contractors to participate in the open bidding process for six regional airports namely General Santos International Airport (P61.80 million); Masbate Airport (P75.85 million); Surigao Airport (P162.56 million); Ozamiz Airport (P267.45 million); Tagbilaran Airport (P60.06 million); and Virac Airport (P75.73 million).
These projects are seen to be a big boost to the economy as these will be modernized by private investors.