Sangley Point Airport (

Chavacano Chavacano or Chabacano is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speaker ...

: ''Aeropuerto de Punta Sangley''; fil, Paliparan ng Punta Sangley; ), also referred to as Cavite Airport, is a domestic airport at

Sangley Point Naval Station Sangley Point was a communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy which occupied the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula and is surrounded by Manila Bay, approximately eight miles southwest of Manila, th ...

Cavite City Cavite City, officially the City of Cavite ( fil, Lungsod ng Kabite, Spanish and cbk, Ciudad de Cavite), is a 4th class component city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 100,674 people. The city was the ...

in the Philippines primarily serving general aviation and turbo-propped airliners in the general vicinity of South Luzon and the Greater Manila Area. Currently a domestic airport, it will be later upgraded to an international airport adjacent to Danilo Atienza Air Base and will be served with either

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

buses or a ferry from

SM Mall of Asia SM Mall of Asia, also abbreviated as SM MoA, or simply Mall of Asia or MoA, is a large shopping mall in the Philippines, located at Bay City, Metro Manila, Bay City, Pasay, Philippines, within the SM Central Business Park, a reclaimed area with ...

. It is the fourth commercial airport to serve the Greater Manila Area, complementing and helping to decongest its neighboring

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA , ; fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino or ''Pandaigdigang Paliparan ng Ninoy Aquino''; ), originally known and still commonly referred to as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main ...

History

Early proposals

In 2013, the All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corporation (ARRC) — a venture headed by tycoon

Henry Sy Henry Tan Chi Sieng Sy Sr. (; ; October 15, 1924 – January 19, 2019) was a Filipino businessman and investor. Born in Fujian, he moved with his family to the Philippines at age 12. While his family returned to China, he stayed behind and f ...

— commissioned

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

construction firm Rambøll Group A.S. to conduct a feasibility study for the reclamation of 50 hectares off

and the development of an airport with two runways and a terminal capable of handling 50 million passengers annually in place of the current air base. This was part of the so-called "Philippines Global Gateway" project proposed by the ARRC to the Philippine government in February 2016. The entire ARRC project involves the construction of an airport and seaport facility, as well as an industrial complex (ecozone), on land reclaimed from Manila Bay off Sangley Point; it is estimated to cost US$50 billion, involving among other things the reclamation of a total of 2,500 hectares of land and the construction of either an underwater tunnel to the

complex in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location j ...

or an extension of the Manila-Cavite Expressway to connect the project to

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the seat of government and one of three defined metropolitan areas in ...

Construction of domestic airport

In December 2016, the ARRC also proposed to the Duterte administration a plan to develop the existing Danilo Atienza Air Base and its 2.4 km long runway into a facility for low-cost carriers and

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

"while waiting for the new airport." This proposal involves the construction of a 3.3-billion airport terminal. The air base's proposed conversion into a civil airport, if realized under this plan, is expected to reduce air traffic movements at the

(NAIA) by 20%. Amid the increasing congestion and flight delays in NAIA, then-President Rodrigo Duterte ordered in June 2019 the transfer of domestic and general aviation operations to Sangley. The DOTr said it was just awaiting the construction of a passenger terminal building, hangars, a new tower, night operations equipment, and asphalt overlay of its existing 2,300-meter runway. Nevertheless, the President directed the operations in Sangley Point to start immediately and specifically gave a November deadline of the same year. By October 27, 2019, Sangley had its operational dry run, in which transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade called "a success". The same day also welcomed its first arrival, a Cebu Pacific Cargo turboprop plane. The domestic airport was officially inaugurated on February 15, 2020 by then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

Redevelopment into international airport

The bidding for the redevelopment of the airport was opened on December 17, 2019. The sole bidder consisting of a consortium of

China Communications Construction Company China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) is a majority state-owned, publicly traded, multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets, including ...

and

MacroAsia Corporation MacroAsia Corporation is a leading provider of aviation-related support services in the Philippines. Its major business segments derive income from aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), food services (airline and institutional catering) ...

was awarded the contract on February 12, 2020, but the contract was terminated in January 2021 due to various deficiencies of the submission of requirements of the consortium. Bidding was reopened in February 2021, but failed in October after no bids were submitted. In November 2021, the SPIA Development Consortium submitted an unsolicited proposal. The consortium, led by Cavitex Holdings Inc. and Yuchengco Group of Companies, is composed of

Samsung C&T Corporation Samsung C&T Corporation ("Construction & Trading Corporation"; formerly Samsung Corporation; Korean: 삼성물산), is a South Korean construction and engineering company. It was founded in 1938 as the first Samsung company and was initially in ...

of South Korea, Munich Airport International GmbH (the management services arm of

Munich Airport Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...

), and the London-based

Arup Group Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

. The consortium was granted the original proponent status in January 2022, and was awarded the contract on September 15 after successfully overcoming the Swiss challenge set by the provincial government. The first phase of the project would involve the construction of the first of four runways. The airport would initially have a capacity of 25 million passengers annually, with plans to construct a second runway and expand capacity to 75 million passengers annually.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

References

{{authority control 2020 establishments in the Philippines Airports established in 2020 Airports in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Cavite City Transportation in Cavite