The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 becomes fully operational today with US air carrier Delta Airlines officially moving its operations to the 12 year-old terminal.

All Delta Airlines flights will arrive and depart from the NAIA 3 utilizing the southern portion of the 1.2 kilometer long terminal.

The NAIA Terminal 3 project began in 1997 with Japanese construction firm Takenaka Corporation building the multi-million dollar terminal.  The then state-of-the-art terminal was built to decongest the NAIA terminal 1 which had exceeded its design capacity of servicing 4.5 million passengers annually.

The NAIA 3 was supposed to be fully operational by 2002 but a legal battle between its owner, the Philippine International Airport Terminals Co. Inc., and the Philippine government ensued.  After an international arbitration court ruled in favor of the Philippine government, the airport terminal opened for operations in 2008 but only on a partial basis.

In August 2013, the government reached an agreement with Takenaka Corp., to complete all the unfinished works in the terminal and integrate the essential airport systems to make the terminal 100 percent operational.

With the $40 million works completed by Takenaka, all 18 boarding gates are now operational, the automated baggage handling system is up and running, all seven baggage carousels are now in service and all air conditioners are functioning.

Simple ceremonies signaling Delta’s official commencement of operations in Terminal 3 will be headed by Transportation Secretary Emilio Abaya early this morning, Friday.

NAIA 3 terminal manager Octavio Lina said the move of the five international air carriers will considerably reduce the congestion currently being experienced at the NAIA 1.  He explained that the five air carriers service at least 3.5 million passengers every year.  With the move, NAIA 1 will revert back to its normal design capacity.

When the NAIA 3 was built, it had a design capacity of 13 million international passengers annually.  However, when it was opened in 2008, the terminal was spit into two, to service both domestic and international operations. Fifteen boarding bridges are now available for the exclusive use of international flights with three bridges assigned for domestic flights.  Aside from the three boarding bridges, the NAIA 3 makes use of 12 remote parking areas for domestic operations.

Prior to the move of the five international air carriers, the NAIA 3 recorded two million international passenger serviced by Cebu Pacific, All Nippon Airways and Air Asia.

When all five air carriers get to move to the newer terminal, international passenger traffic is expected to increase to 5.5 million annually– 1 million below its maximum design capacity.

Lina disclosed that the next air carrier to move to NAIA 3 will be KLM which is scheduled to move its operations on August 4.  Emirates Airlines will begin operating at the NAIA 3 on August 15, with Singapore Airlines moving its operations on September 1.  Cathay Pacific, which has four daily flights between Manila and the former Crown Colony, is scheduled to move to NAIA 3 also in September although the airline management has yet to announce the exact date.