NAIA ranks 10th on ‘world’s most improved airports’ list

MANILA, Philippines – The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) ranked 10th on a list of the “world’s most improved airports” for 2018, released by London-based Skytrax.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) welcomed the news on Thursday, March 22, noting that NAIA was once considered the “worst airport” in the world.

Here are the 10 most improved airports this year, according to Skytrax:

1. Rome Fiumicino
2. Perth
3. Calgary
4. Taiwan Taoyuan
5. Athens
6. Nadi
7. Montréal
8. Moscow Sheremetyevo
9. Houston Intercontinental
10. Manila

The list is part of the 2018 Skytrax World Airport Awards, which the company said is based on “13.73 million airport survey questionnaires completed by over 100 different nationalities of airline customers” in 550 airports worldwide.

The travelers answered questions on their airport experiences, “from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration through to departure at the gate.”

Skytrax said the survey, “operated as an independent study,” was conducted from August 2017 to February 2018.

In a news briefing on Thursday, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Eddie Monreal attributed the ranking to cooperation among stakeholders.

“I think it’s basically the little things we have done, the little efforts that the team has implemented – good cooperation with all the stakeholders…. improvement of the facilities that has been implemented so far,” Monreal said.

But he also acknowledged that there are “still a lot of things to do.”

“Nando’n tayo sa pang-sampu pero ang importante ano’ng gagawin natin moving forward. That’s even a bigger task for us na itinaas natin ‘yung bar, paangat ng paangat, mas mahirap ho ang challenge,” he said.

(We’re ranked 10th now but what’s important is what we do moving forward. That’s an even bigger task for us since we’ve raised the bar, and as we go higher, the challenge becomes more difficult.)

For one, Monreal said they have yet to resolve the issue of taxi drivers overcharging and taking advantage of passengers leaving NAIA.

“Ang isa ho lang talagang medyo nafru-frustrate ako – ‘yung mga pasaway na taxi. Talagang nanggigigil ako, sana tumigil na ho sila,” he said.

(One thing that really frustrates me – deceitful taxi drivers. I’m really frustrated, I hope they stop.)

MIAA GM Eddie Monreal on NAIA ranking 10th among the most improved airports in the world pic.twitter.com/rh6T1RtceI

— Aika Rey (@reyaika) March 22, 2018

There are unsolicited proposals from various groups to upgrade and expand NAIA, including:

• a P350-billion proposal from the NAIA Consortium, composed of 7 of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates
• a P156-billion proposal from Megawide Construction Corporation and its Bangalore-based partner GMR Infrastructure Limited

– Rappler.com

NAIA facade image via Shutterstock