📋 Tender Overview
More upgrades are expected in airports and their navigational systems, as well as continued public-private partnership (PPP) projects in 2025, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.
In Tuesday's Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon episode, CAAP Director General Manuel Tamayo said that among the priorities is the upgrading of the hardware of Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS-ATM) system.
Last year, he said CAAP had focused on upgrading the CNS-ATM software. The CNS/ATM enables aircraft to transmit accurate locations for takeoffs, landings, and air traffic control.
"Approximately PHP2.1 billion from JICA fund savings will be used for upgrading the hardware," Tamayo said.
CAAP, he said, is also required to maintain the old navigation systems, even if the trends now are satellite-based.
Upgrades in airports, weather equipment, runways are also underway, he said.
Tamayo also noted the importance of an airport's night capability, which would allow an aircraft to take off and land during nighttime.
For 2025, CAAP is targeting the airports in Pagadian, Cauayan and Dipolog to be night-rated because of the high volume of passengers.
Aside from improving passenger experience and safety, upgrading the airports also generates economic gains, he said.
"Look at Clark, there are many factories. An airport is always a magnet of commercial activities," he said.
More PPP projects
CAAP will also continue with PPP projects this year, he said, with the airports in Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Davao, Siargao, Bohol among those lined up.
"We could concentrate on our other responsibilities if the responsibility to operate the airports would be removed from CAAP," Tamayo said, noting that it would easier for the private sector to handle the upgrading.
"They have the funding. They could procure faster, unlike in the government wherein we have to undergo the bidding process, COA (Commission on Audit). There's a long process."
Tamayo, meanwhile, said, he expected the Aboitiz Group to emulate the San Miguel Corp. (SMC), which leads the consortium that currently operates the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
"SMC has several upgrading projects for the NAIA. We expect the same from the Aboitiz Group," he said.
The Aboitiz Group bagged the award to upgrade, operate, and maintain the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental.
It will also upgrade, operate, and maintain the Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
In October 2024, Aboitiz InfraCapital, the infrastructure arm of the Aboitiz Group, assumed full ownership of Aboitiz GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation, the developer and operator of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
