Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
Ninoy Aquino International Airport (RPLL/MNL) is the principal international gateway for Metro Manila, sited on the boundary of Pasay and Parañaque some seven kilometres south of the city centre. Built on the former Nichols Field, it is one of the busiest and most congested airports in Asia, handling both wide-body international traffic and a dense mix of domestic operations on two crossing runways.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport, commonly known as NAIA or Manila International Airport, is the main airport serving the Greater Manila Area and the principal hub for Philippine Airlines and its regional arm PAL Express, as well as an operating base for Cebu Pacific and Philippines AirAsia. It occupies the site of the old Nichols Field between Pasay and Parañaque, and its runway layout still reflects that military heritage. For a visiting simulator pilot it offers a busy, complex Class-controlled international environment with two intersecting hard runways, full ILS on the main pair, and a traffic mix ranging from regional turboprops to long-haul widebodies. The airport is operated by the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation, a private consortium led by San Miguel Corporation, under the oversight of the Manila International Airport Authority.
NAIA lies between the cities of Pasay and Parañaque in Metro Manila, about seven kilometres south of Manila proper and southwest of Makati. It sits within controlled airspace served by Manila Approach and Manila Tower, reflecting its status as the country's primary international aerodrome. The field is closely bounded by dense urban development on most sides, a factor that shapes both instrument and visual approach paths.
NAIA has two physical runways. The main runway, 06/24, is a hard, lit surface with published lengths of 11,655 feet on runway 06 and 11,764 feet on runway 24, and both ends are served by ILS. The secondary runway, 13/31, is also hard-surfaced and lit, with a length of 6,227 feet on runway 13 and 6,460 feet on runway 31; neither end carries an ILS. Runway 13/31 traces its origin to the original USAF Nichols Field runway on which the airport was founded.
Manila Tower operates on 118.1 MHz (callsign Manila Tower), with ground movements handled on 121.9 MHz. Manila Approach and departure control uses 119.7 MHz, with area control on 128.3 MHz (Manila Control). ATIS is broadcast on 126.4 MHz (Manila ATIS), and clearance delivery is on 125.1 MHz. A ramp frequency of 121.7 MHz (Ramp 1) is also published, along with an HF flight service frequency of 544.75 MHz (Manila Radio). The main runway, 06/24, is equipped with ILS for instrument approaches.
The airport occupies the site of Nichols Field, a former United States Air Force base whose runway became the basis for Runway 13/31 when Manila's air operations moved there in 1948 following the decommissioning of the earlier Nielson Airport in Makati. The airport's longer international runway, 06/24, together with its taxiways, was built in 1954, and construction of a control tower and international terminal followed from 1956, with the new terminal opening on September 22, 1961. Pan Am inaugurated the first scheduled jet service to Manila on August 5, 1960 with a Boeing 707 from Hong Kong, and the airport received its first widebody aircraft, a Northwest Orient Boeing 747-100, on December 4, 1970. A fire severely damaged the terminal in January 1972 with six casualties, and a smaller replacement terminal opened the following year, later becoming the domestic terminal when Terminal 1 opened in 1981. A further fire damaged the old international terminal in May 1985. The airport was renamed in 1987, by Republic Act No. 6639, in honour of assassinated senator Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino Jr., who was killed at the airport on August 21, 1983.
NAIA is now a large, heavily used international airport handling more than 50 million passengers a year, a figure well beyond its designed capacity of 35 million, which has led to significant congestion and delay. It serves as the hub for Philippine Airlines and PAL Express and as an operating base for Cebu Pacific and Philippines AirAsia. Since September 14, 2024, day-to-day operation and maintenance of the airport, along with its ongoing rehabilitation, has been handled by the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation under a private concession, while the Manila International Airport Authority retains overall regulatory responsibility.
