November 28, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC), the infrastructure arm of the Aboitiz Group, expects to sign by the end of the year the concession agreement for the Bohol-Panglao International Airport, setting the stage for its planned upgrades that will begin in 2025.
AIC said it received last week the notice of award from the Department of Transportation and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to upgrade, operate and maintain Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
The project is the second successful airport public-private partnership awarded by the government to AIC this year via an unsolicited bid, after Laguindingan International Airport.
“Bohol-Panglao International Airport is a fast-growing gateway to one of the Philippines’ most emerging and iconic tourism destinations, and we are honored to play a role in elevating its stature. Through this project, we aim to bring the same level of excellence and innovation that we are demonstrating with Mactan-Cebu International Airport,” AIC vice president and head of airports business Rafael Aboitiz said.
The proposed P4.53 billion project for Bohol-Panglao International Airport, the country’s ninth-busiest gateway, involves expanding the passenger terminal building, installing essential equipment and modernizing airside and landside facilities within a 30-year concession period.
AIC said it would begin introducing operational efficiencies and investments to increase the capacity to 2.5 million passengers per annum within one to two years of operations, from the existing two million passengers per annum.
Once further capacity expansions are completed by 2030, the gateway’s capacity will increase to 3.9 million passengers per annum.
AIC said these investments would enhance passenger experience, improve operational efficiency and elevate the airport’s safety and security standards.
It said that these align with the company’s vision of creating globally competitive airports that showcase the best of the Philippines.
“Our commitment to modernizing the Bohol-Panglao International Airport underscores our vision of creating world-class infrastructure that enables progress in key growth areas of the Philippines. This project is not just about upgrading facilities but also about boosting economic opportunities, enhancing tourism and improving connectivity in the Visayas region. We are excited to be a part of this initiative,” AIC president and CEO Cosette Canilao said.
AIC Airports currently consists of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second-busiest gateway, and soon, Laguindingan International Airport, the country’s sixth-busiest, when AIC takes over in April 2025 as scheduled.
Canilao said the Aboitiz Group is targeting to make an immediate positive impact on travelers who will be using its two recently won regional airport projects: Bohol-Panglao International Airport and Laguindingan International Airport.
“There are certain low-hanging projects that will be felt immediately by the passengers. They will feel it immediately. So we’re working on those low-hanging projects. I think capacity of Laguindingan even pre-pandemic is already too much and now that we’re recovering, it’s near capacity again, so we’re going to tackle that immediately,” Canilao said.
“For Bohol, it’s not that much of rehabilitation, but more of process improvements and facilities improvements that would immediately increase the capacity of the airport from two million to 2.5 million. And the bigger one, what we need for Bohol actually is to develop the traffic since there is room for more tourists to come in. We’ll of course improve the facilities there but work immediately on improving traffic there,” she said.
Be the first to comment