The Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) has opened an aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service facility that is expected to help boost the air terminal’s standing as a 24/7 hub for business aviation, according to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
“We have long dreamed of developing the SBIA into a business and general aviation airport in the country, and this project is one huge step towards realizing that vision,” SBMA chair and administrator Atty. Wilma Eisma said in a statement.
Eisma said the MRO facility was funded by business aviation service provider Aviation Concepts Technical Services Inc. (ACTSI), the maintenance arm of Falconer Aircraft Management, Inc., an affiliate of port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc.
ACTSI has upgraded about 18,000 square meters of hangar space at SBIAfor MRO purposes.
Eisma said last year that SBMA is actively pursuing the implementation of a P10.2-billion, six-year infrastructure development program, of which P2 billion will be for rehabilitating SBIA in order to “[bring] it back to tiptop shape.”
SBMA also announced in April last year the signingof a memorandum of understanding with the Asian Business Aviation Association to develop SBIA for business aviation.
