A team of consultants from the suppposedly best airport in the world arrived in Manila Monday to conduct an initial inspection of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, an official said.
The consultants from Singapore's Changi Airport will help rehabilitate NAIA, which is tagged the world’s worst airport, so it could have globally accepted standards.
The visiting Changi team is a mix of technical managers in airport passenger and cargo flow systems, terminal design, electromechanical engineering, architecture, and commercial revenue research.
“We recognize Changi Airport’s international reputation as the number one airport in the world. This gives us confidence that cooperating with them will reap positive results, particularly in line with our goal of delivering an efficient, distinctively Filipino, and customer-friendly airport for all travelers who will use NAIA Terminal 1 in the near future,” said Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas in a statement.
President Benigno Aquino III earlier approved a P1.1-billion budget for NAIA Terminal 1's (T1) rehabilitation plan, which includes structural and aesthetical improvements for the country’s gateway.
“We welcome this opportunity to help the Philippine government, specifically the MIAA, to maximize its current potential in terms of serving its current and future customers better,” said Jose Pantangco, senior vice president of Changi Airports International.
The Changi Airport team will inspect and analyze T1’s key facilities and areas, and study passenger flows in order to suggest technical assistance on functional design and systems improvement. DOTC will get a full report of the team’s findings in early January.
“Our experience at Changi Airport, and in other advisory projects elsewhere in Asia, Russia, and Europe is that the size of an airport is not a limitation to achieve smooth and efficient operations,” Pantangco said.
He further revealed that Singapore’s Changi Airport pulls in 70 million passengers per annum with its expanded terminal and runway capacities. Changi is also consistently voted as the number one airport in the world.
“This is just the initial step we are undertaking to identify key areas at T1 that urgently need rehabilitation from an international point of view,” Roxas said.
Roxas added that the government is aiming for "function and utility."
"We assure the public that we are doing all we can to provide them safe, affordable, reliable and comfortable travel facilities.”
The Singaporean airport chief agreed noted that "if service levels are improved, and people get a lot more comfortable when they go through an airport, they tend to stay a bit longer, shop more, thus enhance the airport’s revenue-generating capacity, and generally say nice things about the airport when they get home.”
