No, it’s not the latest Karaoke tune to grace the Philippine airwaves, but in Metro Manila, you never know. Slogans and catchphrases are Filipino specialties. Why “There is More Fun in the Philippines” has not caught up with “Amazing Thailand” could be a big blow to our ego. My generic friend Freddie sees it simply lacking a catchy rhyme; “There is more…is nothing but a flat biased statement.
But I have a theory, one that could be a tourist turnoff. NAIA, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, formerly Manila International Airport ( Terminal 1 ), was ranked the Worst Airport in the world between 2011 and 2013 and consistently ranks poorly in Asia. Think about it for a moment: Our foremost airport, the main gateway to “Fun,” earned the reputation as the World’s Worst Airport! It sure is a shaky footing to start “Fun,” to say the least.
How do you start “fun” when you are greeted at an airport with the reputation of a Pantranco Bus Terminal? There were at least 30,000 airports at the time the survey was taken. It is quite an “achievement” to be on top of the world’s worst! I am utterly befuddled about how we could end up in such a position. But then I started thinking about the years of travel between NAIA ( MIA, then ) and Canada. I will get into the details of those experiences later in this article.
BRIEF HISTORY OF NAIA
There are currently four terminals serving the airport hub of the Greater Manila Area. NAIA is served by four terminals in separate but close locations. Terminal 1 services all international flights. Terminal 2 used to be the domestic hub for PAL but now also handles international routes. Terminal 3 is the biggest, newest, and central hub for Cebu Pacific. It has since handled many international airlines. Terminal 4 is the oldest and smallest and serves only domestic routes. Two runways serve all four.
Manila’s original airport was Grace Park Airfield at Grace Park, Caloocan Rizal, opened in 1935 and used by Philippine Aerial Taxi ( later Philippine Airlines ) for domestic flights. Then, in 1937, Nielson’s Field, Asia’s first airport, was set up by Laurie Nielson, a businessman from New Zealand, in what is now downtown Makati. Ayala Ave. and Paseo de Roxas used to be the runways of this 45-hectare gateway. The Americans built Nichol’s Field as a military airfield, later shared by Villamor Airbase and the Old Domestic Terminal (4), constructed in 1948. Today, it handles turboprop domestic routes.
Terminal 1 was opened in 1982 and became known as Manila International Airport (MIA )( and renamed NAIA after the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, a presidential opposition leader, at the tarmac outside of Gate 8 on August 21, 1983) with a capacity of 4.5 M. That capacity was reached by 1991. Terminal 2 was opened in 1999 with a capacity of 7.5 M and became the PAL hub exclusive to all domestic operations. Terminal 3, the newest terminal, started in 1997 but was besieged by legal battles and safety issues. It partially opened in 2008 and became fully operational in 2014.
The severe congestion in Terminal 1 caused international airlines to utilize Terminal 3. Some flights were diverted to Clark Field ((Pampanga ), and some started international services at Mactan Airport in Cebu. Sangley Point ( Cavite ) became the designated third runway to augment the two in NAIA. The overcapacity at NAIA forced major expansions of services outside of the four terminals.
HOW DID WE END UP AS THE WORLD’S WORST AIRPORT?
To be the world’s worst is an extreme label with little wiggle room. But what exactly would make an airport the worst that it is? How was this determined? The travel website “Guide to Sleeping in Airports” rated NAIA as the worst from 2011 to 2013, stating that NAIA is “large and frustrating,” advising travellers to “expect to wait in numerous long lines as you make your way to your flight.” In 2016, the airport had a 40% on-time performance (OTP). It has undergone a series of renovations, and in September 2019, it recorded an 83% OTP from national and international carriers.
However, the U.K.-based airline and customer review site Skytrax rated it 3/10, describing the airport as “congested” with “excessive” immigration and security queues. A South Korean passenger wrote on Skytrax in March 2020:” The floors in the transit waiting area looked like they hadn’t been mopped or cleaned in days.” “By far the worst airport in Asia I have been to.”
I have used all the four terminals at one time or another. My first international flight was 1967 from Terminal 4 on a Northwest 707 to Okinawa. What I remember of that experience was the excitement of one of the first escalators in the Philippines. It leads to a large viewing area of the tarmac from which departures and arrivals are viewed. There they were, the entire neighbourhood in two jeepney loads waiving their “god-speed.” A photographer took a picture of me ( in a suit, of course! ) while I ascended the steps. ( the pictures are quickly developed and sold to relatives ) As I was settling in, my father ( a city cop )showed up, just being curious. ( and highlighting how casual security was then)
Fast forward to today. (this article will focus on NAIA, Terminal 1, the main international gateway.) Since my retirement, my wife and I have travelled every winter, typically from January to March. The experiences of the past 17 years (plus the many trips before retirement ) of travel gave us a first-hand look at the many reasons why we could be rated poorly by the travelling public.
Among the many recurring issues with this terminal is congestion. Despite the number of “improvements” over the years, the size and design of the check-in area do not allow much room for the long queues for each airline. There is little to no seating for passengers waiting for their airline counters to open. Your only option is sitting on the floor or your luggage unless you are in a wheelchair. The number of washrooms is insufficient for the number of people in this part of the terminal. The same goes for the baggage claim area. We have been spared, for the most part, as other airlines’ simultaneous departure and arrival times are staggered ( as I am sure this is by design ); otherwise, congestion will be unbearable.
There are too many people making a living from airport services. As a result, the men ( or women) involved are practically competing to render a service that, in most cases, is unnecessary. (There will be better regulation in the later years, but there will still be too many, chasing travellers ). Tips are expected at every step, from when you arrive for departure or arrival. ( I will refrain from comparing the services rendered in a Canadian airport, Taipei, or Hong Kong. Note that airports, including ours, are meant as self-served entities. Third-party ( or airline ) workers handle travellers who use wheelchairs and do not expect any extra payment; not so at NAIA )
Our terminals are notorious places for people to hatch out sinister plots to extort money from the travelling public. Document anomalies were the original scams perpetrated by airport security; grease money was a common inducement to expedite departure or hush money to forestall customs on arrival. Nothing can match the “tanim bala” ( literally “plant bullet”) extortion scam in 2015, where security officials would insert a bullet in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers. Flight delays or a threat of criminal offence are enough to force victims to pay up. It’s the audacity and the sheer stupidity of the perpetrators once again put NAIA on one of the worst lists.
One of our egregious idiosyncrasies observed in public ( or private; I remember a wheelchair lift at Alabang Town Centre that stayed inoperable for years ) infrastructure is poor maintenance, be it structural or tidiness of facilities. A newly constructed washroom is good until faucets wear out or a urinal breaks down. I saw a faucet with a worn chrome ( the bronzing had started showing up ), and was still in service the following year. The mantra: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” typical of a non-progressive ethos, is alive and well. Nobody seems to care or notice a facility’s run-down, worn-out look as long as it still functions.
Gate 12 ( in our latest trip ) has the vinyl seating so worn out that children could be seen peeling whatever is left of the cheap vinyl still clinging to the chair. ( see picture ). The wooden nook that served drinks in the same gate is so wearied, and the top so scuffed that a layer of varnish would not cover it. ( why anybody would have a wooden nook in a high-traffic area is beyond me ) Oh, and BTW, when a table does not sit evenly, you must find some cardboard to prop one end so your drink does not spill out. It’s what you do in a carinderia, not an international airport.
This is in the waiting area at NAIA, Gate 12
The same seats at Taoyuan International in Taipei
Through the years, some situations have left you scratching your head. A water supply disruption in the ladies’ washroom ( the wife tells me ) leaves the cleaner with buckets ( and a 45-gal steel drum ) to flush the toilets. It is common to find urinals out of service for one reason or another. You can return to these places days or weeks later and still find them in the same condition. You never see them in other countries because, at the end of each day, the maintenance people go through all the faucets, soap dispensers, and urinals, check them individually and repair or replace them as needed; a preventive procedure. ( I know so because I have seen them do it ) Typically, our approach is for the cleaner to report the problem to maintenance and then prioritize it using a triage system.
One notable improvement is the installation of hand dryers, automatic flushing, and keeping up with toilet paper and paper towels. I used Terminal 3 when it first opened in 2008, and what I remember from that experience was the smell of “ulam” ( native dishes ) as you enter the terminal. This place has been in the news lately with a sighting of rat(s) and bed bugs (surot). ( see it on U-tube )
There are two gates ( maybe more ) that I have used not serviced by an escalator. ( I have noticed this problem more when I began to have severe mobility issues ) I recall ( 2 or 3 years ago ) one in particular because this gate (7 ) has no washroom (CR) in the waiting area. Unless you are using a wheelchair (the elevator is not accessible in the waiting area ), the only way up to use the washroom is the steep stairs. Flight delays have become a problem for people who need easy access to a washroom. If you think that’s a real problem, how about losing air conditioning ( observed in Gate 7 some five years ago ) while waiting for a delayed flight? TV? That is no problem, except for the one Samsung monitor that plays Samsung ads continuously.
WOULD THERE EVER BE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
You can only hope it’s not an oncoming train! Terminal 1 has had several renovations through the years but has never kept up with the increases in passenger demand. Globalization saw demand for OFWs. Now, labour
shortages in the West and the relaxation of immigration outside the traditional destinations ( Australia, Canada, U.S.) have put severe pressure on our ability to meet the demands of international travel.
There are two significant developments afoot. The first is a 122.3 billion peso initiative to modernize NAIA, a PPP ( Private-Public-Partnership ) between the government and a concessionaire led by San Miguel Corporation (SMC). In three years, a new terminal building will rise on the site within the “Nayong Pilipino Complex.” The new terminal will have 50 concourses and is expected to clear up space at Terminals 1, 2 and 3 by 30%. This project is tasked to increase annual passenger capacity from 35 M to 62 M.
The second major expansion is ongoing in Bulakan, Bulacan, a project by San Miguel Aerocity Inc.( SMAI) and the government’s Dept. of Transportation. This legislative franchise to SMAI for a domestic and international airport, expected to be completed in 2027, will have a capacity six times larger than the current NAIA. This world-class airport will be developed in phases with up to 6 runways and a target capacity of 100 M passengers per year once fully complete. The 2500-hectare property is positioned to serve Metro Manila via a master planned infrastructure network ( with a direct train route to the city ) and neighbouring regions in central Luzon and southern CALABARZON regions.
Curiously, two major airport projects are concurrently underway. What is going on? Has somebody finally realized how we have disadvantaged ourselves economically by the shabby infrastructure that is NAIA? What was the government thinking about holding the travelling public hostage to a second-rate monopoly? Private air travel insulates the wealthy from the distress of congestion, delays, bad food and every other torment of commercial air travel. SMC, four other concessionaires, and the government finally saw the unrelenting dark clouds at NAIA and decided it was time. When all is said and done, we can finally say, “There is More Fun in the Philippines,” and it begins at NAIA.
Say no more?