San Miguel Corporation has designated the ₱740-billion New Manila International Airport as its primary infrastructure priority, establishing a firm operational completion target for November 2028.
Company chairman Ramon Ang confirmed the development timeline following a series of construction delays that pushed the project past its original 2027 opening target.
The revisions stemmed from severe fill sand shortages and global supply chain disruptions following the national government's suspension of Manila Bay reclamation projects.
Construction on the 350,000-square-meter Passenger Terminal Building officially commenced in early 2026 after land development and soil stabilization reached substantial completion along the shoreline.
Spanning 2,500 hectares, the mega-gateway is designed to resolve chronic congestion at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Upon completion of its first phase, the facility will feature four parallel runways and 240 boarding gates, allowing it to process 35 million passengers annually. Subsequent development phases aim to scale total capacity to 100 million passengers per year.
To support local communities, San Miguel Corporation is implementing a strict employment policy enforcing local labor hiring quotas that mandate the preferential hiring of qualified Bulacan residents for construction and aviation-related roles.
Under this framework, external labor will not be utilized until local workforce pools are fully evaluated, the company said.
Concurrently, the development of critical transport links is underway.
The construction schedule dictates that the eight-kilometer, six-lane elevated airport expressway will link the hub directly to the North Luzon Expressway in Marilao, running alongside the 19-kilometer Northern Access Link Expressway and a planned MRT-7 rail extension.
Roadway infrastructure development is progressing in tandem with the vertical terminal construction to ensure synchronized accessibility by 2028.
Addressing long-term sustainability, the project enforces stringent environmental mitigation rules for the Bulacan coastline to counter risks of flooding and land subsidence.
The corporation has aligned operations with international environmental and social performance standards. Active safeguards include the privately funded dredging and rehabilitation of Bulacan's tributary river systems to prevent inland water backup.
Additionally, the developer has established the 40-hectare Saribuhay sa Dampalit Biodiversity Offset Program in Malolos, creating a dedicated ecological sink-area and migratory bird stopover to compensate for coastal mangrove displacement.
San Miguel, which also oversees the rehabilitation and management of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport through the New NAIA Infra Corp., intends to run both facilities under a unified dual-gateway aviation strategy.
