Philippine Airlines (PAL) is looking at building a $500-million international airport terminal in three years’ time.
The terminal will rise on a 2,000-hectare property and will initially have two runways capable of handling 150 takeoffs per hour, with an option for up to four runways.
In the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting last week, PAL president Ramon Ang declined to identify the location of the terminal but said this will be nearer Clark, eyed by government as an alternative to the Manila airports. Ang said the company is now in talks with a Korean contractor and a proposal will be forwarded to government by early next year.
PAL is exclusively using Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, which is hobbled by runway congestion. The runway can only handle 40 takeoffs an hour, way below the requirement particularly during peak hours.
The announcement on the new terminal comes after PAL said it was placing an order for more than 50 aircraft worth about $7 billion from Airbus, with delivery to start next year.
Meanwhile, the low-cost airline unit of PAL, AirPhil Express is set to be rebranded as PAL Express after the PAL Board approved the proposal to drop the current name.
AirPhil Express flew 2.39 million passengers in the first six months of this year from 1.85 million last year.
Photo from http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/corporate/bod/
