Ramon Ang eyes end-2028 opening for Bulacan Airport’s first runway

Insider Spotlight

• SMC targets the first runway by end-2028, with another added yearly toward full completion in 2032, depending on demand.

• Capacity could grow from 35 million passengers with one runway to over 100 million when all four are operational.

• The airport is expected to ease pressure on NAIA, attract more foreign tourists and support up to 250,000 jobs at peak construction.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is targeting the opening of the first runway of the New Manila International Airport by the end of 2028, followed by a second runway in 2029.

“The first runway could be ready toward the end of 2028, followed by the second runway in 2029,” SMC chair and CEO Ramon S. Ang said during a media briefing on Tuesday. 

Ang said SMC, the corporate giant whose businesses include food, drinks, energy and infrastructure, could add another runway each year until the four-runway airport is completed around 2032, although the pace will depend on passenger demand.

The New Manila International Airport is the centerpiece of the P740-billion Bulacan aerotropolis, widely considered the largest private-sector investment in Philippine history.

Ramon S. Ang 

San Miguel Corp. chair, CEO 

Capacity beyond NAIA

Ang said one runway could handle 35 million passengers annually, with capacity rising to 70 million with two runways. 

The Bulacan airport is being positioned as Metro Manila’s eventual main gateway, while an SMC-led consortium already operates and is rehabilitating the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The project is being developed under a build-operate-transfer arrangement and will eventually be turned over to the government.

‘Ordinary soil cannot be used’

• “The project is being delayed because suitable raw materials are running short,” Ang said, stressing that ordinary soil cannot be used as filling material.
• “If materials with inconsistent weights are used, the runway will settle unevenly,” he said, adding that SMC must use suitable offshore or river sand.
• Boskalis remains involved in technical supervision of the land development, Ang said. 

‘Millions of foreign tourists’

Ang has long advocated the Bulacan airport as a larger, modern gateway that could ease pressure on NAIA, attract more foreign tourists and create jobs. NAIA was designed to handle 35 million passengers annually but now serves more than 50 million as demand continues to grow.

“We plan to bring in millions of foreign tourists,” Ang said, projecting that 50 million visitors could support between 50 million and 100 million jobs across tourism and related industries.

“At the peak of airport construction, it will employ at least 250,000 people,” he added, including contractors and material suppliers.

—Edited by Miguel R. Camus