Here’s a subject that comes up time and time again.  What’s the deal with the airport or airports in Manila?  We can help here at the old PhilFAQS info center but first of all we have to define a couple things.

First of all, for our purposes here, we will define and “airport” as one contiguous plot of ground that has one or more runways where aircraft land and take off and one or more terminals where people board or deplane from aircraft.  Does this seem a little too simplistic to you?  Well, sorry if it doers but I have seen more problems with this definition and people arguing over what constitutes and airport than you can imagine over the past 8 years or so … so defining the foundations of the discussion can’t really hurt.

Based on our definition here there is only one airport within Metro Manila and that is Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).  The commercial airlines “bag tag” code is MNL and the ICAO “International Code” is RPLL.  In common parlance here this entire place is typically referred to as “na e ah”.

The confusion often crops up due to the fact that there are 4 completely separate and independent terminal buildings on NAIA and you’d be well advised to know which one does what before you hail a cab and say “airport, please”.

Terminal One: Also commonly known as the “International Terminal”.  This is the largest of the terminals in use and serves all flights flying into and out of the Philippines. with one important exception.  Philippine Airlines (PAL) (not to be confused with Air Philippines).  If you fly into NAIA on any airline except PAL you will have to change terminals on the ground to fly out to any other Philippine cities.  As my friend Bob recently reported, along with many others, this can be

Terminal Two: Also known as the PAL terminal.  This building is for Philippine Airlines flight only … no other airlines use it … and it serves all Philippine Airline’s flight, international and domestic.  It’s well known I am no big friend of PAL, I often avoid them, but if you are flying to some city aside from Manila it may be well worth your while to explore booking the whole trip on PAL … simply because you won’t have to transfer to the NAIA Domestic Terminal.

Terminal Three:  This one is a big confusion factor … it’s also, sadly, one of the stories that gives the Philippines a lot of “bad press”.  This large building was built to take the pace of Terminal One and the present Domestic Terminal and consolidate Intentional and Domestic flights.  There is still an on-going argument as to whether PAL will also use Terminal Three … but the argument is currently moot because Terminal Three has been completed for several years now and is not yet open.  The government of the Philippines, the builders of the terminal and a host of other agencies involved with the financing of Terminal three are embroiled in court cases and other legal squabbles.  terminal Three might open at any time … but not likely to be any time soon.

Domestic Terminal:  This is an antiquated, far too small and crowed building several miles by road from any of the other terminals.  All domestic (within the Philippines) flights except PAL domestic flights will board and deplane here.  If you are getting a taxi to the airport and the driver doesn’t ask you, “What airline”, better make sure you know which terminal you need.

This map should help you keep it all straight:

View Larger Map

One last bit of knowledge to complicate the situation.  A number of discount airlines are using Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).  This airport … with only one terminal (so far) .. is named after the current president’s father and is located on the former USAF Clark AB, about 50 miles north of Manila.  The confusion factor comes about because these airlines frequently list their flights as to or from Manila!  It would be a long taxi ride to get from DMIA to NAIA so make sure, before you book that you and the airline are talking about the same “Manila”.

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