PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the administration is looking to hire a private company to manage traffic and increase movement in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Philippines’ busiest gateway to the country.
The President said he and other government officials met with the undisclosed company during their trip to New York last year.
“They said that without new equipment, without building a new runway, they can increase the traffic from what is presently they refer to as 35 movements per hour to 45 movements per hour. We want that,” he said.
“They have a huge experience in running ports and running airports,” he said.
The said company was in Manila “last week to look at the operation of the airport,” the President said.
Marcos gave the statement when asked about the issue of privatizing the airport hounded by several issues.
“A private firm cannot own an airport,” Marcos told journalists. “At most, we will have a management contract… without changing anything.”
Marcos did not disclose how much the Philippines is expected to shell out for the outsourced service from the foreign company.
Earlier this month, hundreds of flights were canceled and delayed after a power outage in NAIA grounded flights and paralyzed Philippine airspace. (ABS-CBN News)
