- NAIA Terminal 4 rehabilitation was dropped, and the site will instead become an aircraft parking area.
- MIAA says it has not received official notice, while NNIC shifts priority to Terminal 5 for completion by end-2027.
- The concession still targets 62 million passengers a year and forty-eight aircraft movements per hour.
The planned rehabilitation of NAIA Terminal 4 has been dropped, delaying the return of Ninoy Aquino International Airport to four-terminal passenger operations.
The site will instead become an aircraft parking area. Passengers will continue using the airport’s existing three-terminal arrangement while the plans change.
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Eric Jose Ines, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority, said he had heard about revisions from New NAIA Infrastructure Corp., the private operator. MIAA had not received a formal notice.
“I am hearing that there will be some changes in the plan for Terminal 4 lately, but I am not sure as we have not received any official notice yet from NNIC”
Ines said the planned rehabilitation “will no longer push through.” Reports published on August 27, 2026, and August 28, 2026, described the same shift.
The operator had originally planned a larger passenger facility. Its completion target had been mid-2026.
The abandoned terminal site will serve aircraft instead
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the site’s new purpose.
“True, there will no longer be a Terminal 4. It will be used to park aircraft”
NNIC is redirecting the space as the airport prepares for more airlines and higher traffic over the next 12 months. Aircraft parking will replace the passenger-terminal function originally assigned to the area.
The operator is prioritizing Terminal 5 instead. Construction is being expedited, with completion targeted by the end of 2027.
That change pushes the airport’s four-terminal return beyond the original schedule. The earlier plan called for a larger Terminal 4 to be completed in mid-2026, a target that has now been abandoned.
The former terminal area will support aircraft operations rather than add passenger-processing space. The change also alters how the airport’s expansion plans are being sequenced.
The concession still targets a much larger airport system
The terminal decision sits within NNIC’s broader airport rehabilitation concession, valued at ₱170.6-billion. The agreement is tied to increasing passenger capacity to 62 million per year.
It also aims to speed aircraft movement to 48 an hour. The aircraft-parking conversion therefore comes as the operator prepares the wider airport system for additional traffic.
The concession originally included rebuilding the passenger terminal. NNIC is now directing priority toward the separate fifth-terminal project.
That project’s end-of-2027 target gives the airport a new milestone. The immediate terminal count, however, remains at three passenger facilities.
MIAA is reviewing whether the change fits the concession
MIAA has started reviewing whether the repurposing is authorized under the concession agreement. The agency is assessing whether the former passenger-terminal site can be reassigned to aircraft parking.
The regulator had not yet been formally informed of NNIC’s desire to abandon Terminal 4 as a passenger facility, according to the older report. Ines had only said he was hearing that changes were coming.
The review places the proposed conversion within the concession’s approval process. Until that process advances, the site’s role is tied to a plan that differs from the original passenger-terminal design.
The operator’s change does not restore a fourth passenger terminal. It instead gives the airport additional space for parked aircraft as traffic and airline activity are expected to grow.
The airport’s return to four-terminal operations will take longer than expected. The latest reports set the next major terminal deadline at the end of 2027.
