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Since I go through this airport at least twice a year, I can tell everyone for certain this is a horrible airport. One hour waits in line just to get inside. Lines and more lines. No air conditioning.
The San Miguel plan is a great one but the govt is balking of course.
I think it becomes a question of who benefits from the construction, but you can also ask yourself who else nearby in the universe benefits. Does a company like Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) take on more and more business with expanding local airports and more air travel? Do they branch out?
The SATS thing is reaching, but if you believe more and more Asian airports are going to expand, it becomes trying to think of who possibly could benefit large and small. SATS pays a nice dividend, in the meantime.
It sounds like their goals for increased traffic are tourist driven, so if it moves forward, investing in tourism should do well. And if you really want to know who benefits most from the construction, I'd be looking at those who make the decisions about who gets the contract. The Philippines are a little below the middle of the corruption rankings so you'd have to believe a few pockets will be lined.
If the San Miguel plan is adopted then they would be the big winner in this. The economy of the Philippines is in part driven by tourism and that is increasing. Right now the govt is leaning towards a Japan offer of build and transfer.
The other side of the story is the current airport site. Once a new airport is up and running the common thought here is that the current airport would become another CBD of Manila with offices, condos, malls, etc. The location is ideal and is right next to the new Megaworld/ Genting Resorts World. Certainly the big names here like Ayala would benefit. The sale of that land would in all likelihood pay for the new airport in its entirety. Not a bad deal at all since the govt presently owns it.
The real estate market here is still on the upswing but it is showing signs of froth. The economy itself needs to climb upwards.
There is no doubt about it: Manila (MNL) is in fact the world's worst airport. Utterly dreadful. I have routed trips to the Philippines deliberately to avoid Manila. Ultimate destination was Cebu, so I used Malaysian Air and went through Kuala Lumpur instead, bypassing Manila.
Comments
The SATS thing is reaching, but if you believe more and more Asian airports are going to expand, it becomes trying to think of who possibly could benefit large and small. SATS pays a nice dividend, in the meantime.
The other side of the story is the current airport site. Once a new airport is up and running the common thought here is that the current airport would become another CBD of Manila with offices, condos, malls, etc. The location is ideal and is right next to the new Megaworld/ Genting Resorts World. Certainly the big names here like Ayala would benefit. The sale of that land would in all likelihood pay for the new airport in its entirety. Not a bad deal at all since the govt presently owns it.
The real estate market here is still on the upswing but it is showing signs of froth. The economy itself needs to climb upwards.
It's literally an adventure every time we fly into Manila. It's been like that for the over twenty years I have been going there.