Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) is expected to have new navigation equipment by year-end and to subsequently open for commercial operations by mid-2020, according to the top official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
SBMA chairman and administrator Atty. Wilma Eisma, in a Senate hearing on October 2 on the authority’s budget, said the navigational equipment purchased by the authority will likely be installed by December.
Eisma said SBMA spent P553 million in 2018 to upgrade the airport and replace navigational equipment removed during the previous administration.
She clarified, however, that Subic airport remains operational but that the agency is still “building it up” to international capacity.
Eisma said SBMA will not compete with Clark International Airport. The SBIA niche could be operating chartered flights or domestic flights for smaller airplanes.
While SBIA is being readied for commercial operations next year, Eisma said SBMA is in talks with a major budget airline looking to move to Subic from the overcrowded Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. She said SBMA is also setting up a meeting with airline manufacturer Boeing and logistics giant FedEx about operating at the airport.
SBIA is currently home to flying schools, aircraft maintenance and repair companies, and visiting armed forces contingents from other countries.
