MIAC consortium submits another unsolicited USD1.8 billion offer to upgrade Manila Airport

After the embarrassment of the abandoned attempt by a Fraport-led consortium to upgrade Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the early 2000s, which ended up in the international courts, it was the case that there was no desire among the private sector to make another attempt until 2017, when a Philippines consortium had put in an unsolicited bid to do so.

Six years later they have returned, with a USD1.8 billion pitch to double capacity at NAIA by way of a PPP, and this time they have on board the US investment fund manager GIP. GIP has had experience of operating (inter alia) London Gatwick Airport, but is shifting its focus away from Europe latterly and is a minor partner in the consortium that bought Sydney Airport in 2022.

With a new government that favours PPPs, and one that has developed a strategy for airports, it is odds-on that the consortium will succeed this time, but there have been other events since 2017 that will have an impact - specifically, two separate PPP projects to build a new, and convert an existing, airport in Manila.

Accordingly, the capital city could soon end up with four airports serving it, and there is no evidence that it needs that level of capacity.