‘We have no plans of privatizing’ NAIA – Bongbong Marcos | Inquirer News

‘We have no plans of privatizing’ NAIA – Bongbong Marcos

By: - Reporter / @DYGalvezINQ
/ 12:03 AM January 24, 2023

NAIA Terminal 3. STORY: ‘We have no plans of privatizing’ NAIA – Bongbong Marcos

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). (Photo from the Manila International Airport Authority)

MANILA, Philippines — The government is not planning to privatize the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said in a panel interview on Monday.

This was contrary to a remark that Transportation Jaime Bautista said earlier that the government was working to expedite the privatization of NAIA.

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“We have no plans of privatizing. There’s no plan to privatize anything. Rather, we do the opposite,” Marcos said.

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He did discuss NAIA with Bautista. But the transportation chief probably “misspoke or was misinterpreted,” he said.

“You cannot privatize an airport, to begin with. They cannot own the airport. A private firm cannot own the airport,” Marcos said.

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He said, however, that the government was looking to hire a foreign private company to manage traffic and increase movement at NAIA.

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He said he and other government officials met with a company, which he did not name, during their trip to New York City last year.

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“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. They have a huge experience in running ports and running airports,” Marcos said.

Representatives from that company, he said, were in Manila “last week to look at the operation of the airport.”

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Marcos raised the possibility of a “management contract” with the unnamed firm.

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