‘For the Manila airports, Terminals 1, 2 and 4 suffer from a major design flaw – there’s no parking area that is not only covered but attached to the airport terminal.’
YESTERDAY, I flew in from Tacloban City, where they are building a new airport terminal to replace the existing one. The new tower, in fact, looks almost complete structure-wise; I suspect installing the proper radar/aircraft guidance systems will be next.
Since I am a frequent traveler to Tacloban I look forward to the eventual inauguration of the new terminal, which I am betting will happen within the next six years.
I hope the design will avoid the flaws in many of our other airports, particularly the one in Puerto Princesa (another domestic destination I frequent), and, of course, our NAIA terminals, particularly the Centennial (the one used by PAL) and the original one now called Terminal 1.
One flaw that afflicts the Palawan terminal that was inaugurated during the time of PNoy, when Mar Roxas was transport secretary, is the absence of an airway bridge. Why they didn’t build that into the Puerto terminal escapes me — especially since we are in a country that’s either sooo hot or sooo wet.
Hence in Puerto, old folks (like me!) need to step off the plane and walk… all the way to the arrival area which leaves you exposed to the elements, not to mention the baggage carts that are pulled to the conveyor belts of the baggage claim area. I need not say that you therefore enter the terminal a bit short of breath and either drenched in sweat or from the rain, which no umbrella can protect you from.
Of course, it also means that if you need to take the stairs to disembark, you need to take the stairs to board!
Idiotic, yes?
For the Manila airports, Terminals 1, 2 and 4 suffer from a major design flaw – there’s no parking area that is not only covered but attached to the airport terminal. So if you happen to decide to bring a car and park it, you better pray that it’s not pouring when you leave or arrive, or that the sun is not at its hottest glory. Stupid, don’t you think?
At least Terminal 3 has the parking building attached to it, though slots are not that many.
Terminal 2 (the Centennial one) also suffers from the fact that arrivals and departures use the same walkway level — which means that sometimes boarding needs to be halted because arriving passengers are passing and you don’t want a mix-up of passengers, do you? Why the French designers designed the Ramos-era terminal that way, only they and God know.
Manila’s greatest flaw, though, is the lack of additional runways. Let’s face it, what’s the use of building four terminals in a location that only allows for one honest-to-goodness runway for all arrivals and departures? Nuts, yes?
So, Tacloban, take heed and learn from your “brothers.” Make it a really good airport since I may be dropping by for the next 10 or even (God willing!) 20 years!
