I have never really thought very seriously about the logistics involved here; I just consider myself lucky that I didn't have to do it.
Then in 2017 after the Asean Finance Ministers Meeting in Mactan, Cebu, I was on the same delayed flight to Manila as the Malaysian Finance minister, his wife, and his staff. They were connecting to Manila prior to a same day flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL), and because of the delay, they were cutting it a bit too close to the departure of the KL flight.
Because we had the airport staff alerted and waiting in Manila, and we had the resources and planned for this emergency, the minister and his entourage were able to make it. He did tell me as we finally boarded that he hoped he would be able to make it to his flight to KL, causing me more than just a twinge of embarrassment.
In 2019, I had my own emergency, but this time it was in Tokyo. I made the mistake of not checking my ticket closely and therefore was in Haneda airport for the Manila bound flight instead of in Narita from where my departure was supposed to be.
Immense panic time, but with the help of the information staff in Haneda who checked transport availability to Narita and who went with me in my dash through Haneda, I made it on time for the bus to Narita with a couple of minutes to spare. I reached Narita with enough time to check in and even for a leisurely walk to the boarding gate, my blood pressure finally settled down to normal levels.
But what this Pinay, who is so used to traffic-clogged Metro Manila, found really amazing was that the bus traveled the 62-kilometer distance between the two airports in just one hour, or the same amount of time I sometimes unfortunately spend trying to make it to Makati from the Department of Finance along Roxas Boulevard, no more than 15 kilometers.
So, when we are talking of new airports or refurbishing NAIA, we need to discuss more than the size of the airports or the runway configurations - we also need to think about how to efficiently transfer people from one terminal to the other, and from the terminals to the various points in the metropolis.
Do we use dedicated shuttle buses with fixed schedules running every 10 minutes or so between the existing terminals? I would say that is a critical need now. How about between NAIA and Clark and the future airport in Bulacan? Should there be trains and subways available? I would say absolutely yes!
San Miguel Corp. just paid the national government P30 billion as its upfront payment for the long-awaited PPP for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Expectations are high about this takeover of the management of NAIA by the beer company that has successfully transformed itself into an infrastructure development corporation in the last three decades of its 130 years of existence.
I can only hope and pray that the people engaged in redesigning the airport consider the point of view of an ordinary passenger who just wants to make it to her connecting flight on time together with her luggage, or get into her hotel or get home with the least hassle and safely too.
Now if SMC can transform NAIA to an airport worthy of competing with the likes of Singapore’s Changi Airport, well then, it would be time to order a "platito ng mani" and raise our glasses of cold Pale Pilsen and shout "isa pa nga!!!”
#AccidentalFrequentTraveler
Ms. Habitan served as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Finance where she became a career bureaucrat for 44 years immediately after graduating with a degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines. She has a masters degree in D
