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The Philippines must have a single master plan for its airport network nationwide to remain competitive and take advantage of the aviation boom in the Asian region, according to an executive of Philippine Airlines
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PAL EVP and COO Carlos Luis Fernandez said the master plan should clarify NAIA’s long-term role alongside the Clark International Airport in Pampanga and the planned New Manila International Airport in Bulacan
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He cited the need to standardize secondary airports, integrate surface access, align policy and investment incentives, and build resilience in hubs
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Fernandez also emphasized the importance of building resilience into every airport
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The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines admitted that it has not even begun to draft such a national airport plan
The Philippines must have a single master plan for all airports to remain competitive and take advantage of the aviation boom in the Asian region, according to an executive of Philippine Airlines (PAL).
“While the Philippines is almost at par with many of our neighbors in terms of the number of designated international airports… we, however, continue to lag in terms of national capacity,” PAL executive vice president and chief operating officer Carlos Luis Fernandez said in a presentation during the recent 2025 Philippine Aviation Summit by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Asian Business Aviation Association.
“This here shows the urgent need to not only enhance NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), but also strengthen the entire Philippine airport network to remain competitive in the region,” Fernandez added.
He said the Philippines need a coordinated strategy that optimizes NAIA in the short term with travel efficiency upgrades while clarifying its long-term role alongside the Clark International Airport in Pampanga and the planned New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.
The master plan must also standardize secondary airports through night rating, runway extensions, and upgraded navigational aids “so they can serve as reliable mini hubs” as well as modernize the country’s aircraft in in line with International Civil Aviation Organization upgrades.
The plan should also integrate surface access through expressways and rail links “so that our hubs serve not just cities, but entire regions.”
Moreover, the plan should align policy and investment incentives, from rational fuel taxes to sustainability frameworks to make Philippine hubs more competitive.
Fernandez also emphasized the importance of building resilience into every airport, with redundancy in power, radar, and communications, “so disruptions never again paralyze our national gateway,” especially given that the Philippines is at high risk of natural disasters.
A well-designed aviation network also becomes a backbone of resilience of the country, ensuring that aid and resources can move quickly during natural disasters or health crisis, he said.
Without the master plan, Fernandez said the country’s “connectivity will remain fragmented and we will miss out on Asia’s ongoing aviation boom.”
Investing in connectivity and hubs, Fernandez said, will “allow the Philippines to achieve four critical national goals”— tourism dispersion and sustainable development, trade competitiveness, diaspora connectivity, and national resilience and global branding.
He noted that Southeast Asia is projected to welcome 187 million international tourist arrivals by the year 2030 and the Philippines “must secure a larger share of that growth.” Moreover, tourism’s share in the country’s direct gross value added reached P2.35 trillion in 2024 alone.
But to take advantage of the benefits of tourism, Fernandez said regional hubs must connect visitors directly to other areas, and tourists must reach their destinations without exhausting multi-leg journeys.
On trade competitiveness, Fernandez said more regional airports handling belly cargo means more micro, small, and medium enterprises gaining access to global markets at cheaper costs.
READ: Cargo handled at NAIA down 1.2% in Jan-July 2025
He also noted the significance of improving travel service and connectivity for the more than two million Filipino migrant workers and 10.8 million overseas Filipinos residing in other countries as of 2024.
International Air Transport Association Philippines country manager Samuel David, during the panel discussion at the same summit, said they support the call for a national airport master plan, noting that some areas in Asia Pacific are also putting together their own civil aviation master plans.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director general Raul del Rosario, in the same panel discussion, admitted that “we do not have a complete master plan as needed by perhaps the airlines but we will try our best to come up” with such a plan.
He said CAAP’s priority now is developing airports that can accommodate jet aircraft and those that are to be night rated but being an archipelago, he said “there are just too many priorities” because “practically every province, every district wants their own airport.”
This is why “the budget is divided into smaller amounts that cannot complete immediately those priority airports,” he added.
READ: Various regional airports for upgrade, some ready by 2026
He said it has been in CAAP’s discussions “to sit down and come up with an airport development plan and it will be CAAP maybe who will be presenting which one has the highest priority and focus funding on these airports.”
Meanwhile, aside from the master plan, Fernandez said to enhance connectivity and develop hubs, there is a need to maximize runways and hourly slots by minimizing runway occupancy time, employing the use of runway exit taxiways, and applying advanced technologies to utilize better air traffic control systems.
Service access must also be improved as an airport’s catchment area is only as large as the connected roads and railways can handle.
He noted that Clark International Airport, and in the future the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, “will succeed only if travel times are cut dramatically from Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.”
Moreover, the airline industry should be cost competitive.
“Airlines choose hubs that are efficient to operate from. Reasonable airport fees, fuel costs, and handling charges are vital if we are to compete with other Asian gateways,” Fernandez said.– Roumina Pablo
