Promising developments

All these stories about airport travellers losing their luggage to thieves are just stories, until they happen to someone you know, or worse, to you.

I did not exactly lose my luggage or its contents, but someone did attempt to, after I discovered upon leaving Manila via NAIA Terminal 1 Monday last week bound for Osaka onboard Jet Star and upon arriving at the hotel that my checked-in luggage was missing its padlock. Nothing was missing because I hand carried everything that had value but the idea that someone tried to steal from me could not escape my mind.

There are at least two future developments that are encouraging though: first is that the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) which administers NAIA has said that Miascor Ground Handling Corp.’s extended lease and concession contract would be terminated on April 21 and that five other ground handling service providers operating at NAIA would take over Miascor’s services for 15 airlines; and second, that a super conglomerate composed of seven of the country’s biggest business groups is interested in rehabilitating and operating NAIA for 35 years.

It will be recalled that no less than President Duterte earlier ordered the termination of Miascor’s contract after a luggage theft incident at the Clark International Airport involving an overseas Filipino worker.

Last year, it was reported that the wife of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose husband attended the ASEAN ministerial meetings in Manila, discovered upon returning to their country that her jewelry box placed in her luggage was missing. It was later found in the NAIA 1 locker of a baggage loader of Miascor.

Were Miascor personnel also involved in the tanim-bala, laglag-bala incidents of the past?

I am sure that there are so many unreported stories of luggage pilferages. Just recently, a friend of mine posted on Facebook how her still new soft case luggage was torn to pieces when she retrieved it.

And while we are at it, why are the queues so long at the NAIA 1 immigration counters? There is a sign that says they are upgrading their procedure but what is exactly happening?

Now let’s go to the second encouraging development for one of the world’s worst airports.

A consortium composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Andrew Tan-led Alliance Global Group Inc., Lucio Tan’s Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC), Gotianun’s Filinvest Development Corp., Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., have submitted a a P350-billion unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate, expand, operate and maintain NAIA.

The group has partnered with Singapore’s Changi Airports International Private Ltd., which would provide technical support in the areas of master planning, operations optimization, and commercial development. According to the consortium, they will transform NAIA into a regional airport hub and ensure that it would be able to meet the continued growth in passenger traffic.

In a disclosure, the super consortium said that given proper upgrades and strategic improvements, NAIA could easily accommodate an additional 11 million passengers annually from the current 39.5 million passengers, and likewise increase its hourly aircraft movements (landing and take-off) from 40 movements per hour to 48 movements per hour.

AEDC, which was incorporated in 1993, originally included Tan, John Gokongwei, Filinvest’s Andrew Gotianun, Henry Sy Sr., Metrobank’s George Ty and Alfonso Yuchengco and was the original proponent of NAIA Terminal 3 until it was edged out by Piatco-Fraport when the former failed to match the latter’s bid during the Swiss Challenge to AEDC’s unsolicited proposal.

In 2003, the Supreme Court declared the Piatco NAIA III contract as null and void.

The super consortium’s proposal will however have to compete with that of Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure which has also proposed to operate, rehabilitate and expand NAIA.

In a recent briefing, Megawide-GMR said airside issues would be addressed with the construction of new taxiways, aircraft parking and the extension of Naia’s secondary runway. Passenger Terminals 1, 2 and 3 would also be expanded to accommodate as many as 72 million passengers annually from over 40 million passengers a year.

First and last impressions last. As the country’s premier gateway, NAIA should offer the best of the Philippines to its visitors.