New Manila Airport to be Tested in Late March

Feb. 21, 2007

The government has set for end-March the "rolling opening" of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3), and that full commercial operation could be achieved by the end of the year, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said yesterday.

In an interview on the sidelines of the annual briefing by the government's economic managers at Shangri-La Makati, Mr. Favila said the government has scheduled to "test the systems" of the new airport, the opening of which has been postponed several times due to the legal battle between the government and the consortium that built it.

Mr. Favila said they are testing two flights in March for the dry run, adding they are giving foreign airlines six to nine months to transfer their facilities, equipment and systems to the new airport.

Officials said they are going to test the centralized air-conditioning system, along with the X-ray machines, conveyors, counters and other equipment.

NAIA-3, whose construction was finished in 2002, has been mothballed for the past three years since the government cancelled the contract with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco), the airport's builder, over disadvantageous provisions.

The Supreme Court last year ruled that the administration could not open the airport without paying an initial P3 billion to German firm Fraport AG, the construction company that built the airport.

Fraport is one of the companies in the Piatco consortium. The government has remitted the down payment last year.

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