Philippine airports not yet ready for A380

REPORT FROM BUSINESSWORLD IT WILL TAKE about two years for Philippine airports to be able to fully accommodate and process commercial flights of the Airbus 380, local authorities said in separate interviews late last week. Alfonso G. Cusi, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), and Victor I. Luciano, president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), said in separate interviews that, in particular, passenger facilities of local airports need to be expanded to better accommodate commercial flights of what is currently the world’s biggest passenger aircraft. The double-decker A380, which towers 79 feet and has a wingspan of nearly 262 feet, can accommodate over 800 passengers. Last week, the A380 stopped over in the Philippines as part of its four-leg technical route, conducting exercise landing in Manila on Thursday, and proceeding to Clark last Friday. The next stop for the A380 is Dubai before flying to Toulouse, France, which is the Airbus headquarters. On the sidelines of a press conference at the Manila airport, Mr. Cusi told reporters that the landing of the A380 settles doubts about the capability of the airport to handle wide-bodied planes. Mr. Cusi, however, admitted that the next step for the MIAA is to make certain improvements on the terminal to enable it to process bigger volumes of passengers. "We will make the necessary retrofit adjustments on the airport," he said. The MIAA head was pertaining to the widening of gates to better accommodate increased passenger arrivals and departures, and adjusting its height. The A380 is taller than planes currently being serviced by local airports, roughly equivalent to an eight-storey building. Asked on when the developments would begin, Mr. Cusi said it’s part of the ongoing airport development, but did not give a definitive timetable. Alternate gateway In a separate interview, Clark’s Mr. Luciano said the A380’s visit to the former US airbase takes Clark airport a step closer to becoming the premier gateway being envisioned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Mr. Luciano said Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) is suited for the A380 with its two parallel runways, compared with the already-congested NAIA. The CIAC head added that DMIA is undergoing a $68-million modernization, which started last July. The first phase of the project, which will increase the passenger capacity of the airport to two million from half a million annually today, is expected to be finished by January 2008. The second phase of the expansion includes retrofitting to better accommodate wide-bodied planes like the A380. Phase two, which spans from April next year to 2009, will install passenger tubes suited for the taller A380. Captain Peter Chandler, who piloted the A380 MSN009 test aircraft, was particularly careful in comparing the Manila and the Clark airports. "Both airports were equally sufficient," he told reporters in the press briefing, noting that his 41 crewmen didn’t encounter any problem in either airport. — Marian Grace S. Ramos/BusinessWorld