Originally Posted by
governorgeneral
Many thanks to all on this thread for the past insight on transfer at MNL. Just wanted to share my own experience from a few weeks ago making the transfer from T2 to T3. Flights were Philippine Airlines 2142 from Iloilo to Manila arriving at 1130 at T2, then (on a separate, unlinked itinerary) from T3 on Emirates 333 from Manila to Dubai leaving at 1730. Bottom line: took 1 hour 20 minutes to get from T2 to T3. We got to T3 so early that the Emirates check in desk wasn't open yet! With the wait for check in, all told it was 3 h gate to gate T2 to T3.
Landed at 1120. The impassable chasm, or so it had been described: getting between terminal 2 (foreground) and terminal 3 (background) in any reasonable time. The past lack of coordination between terminals: it’s been described as 4 entirely separate airports that happen to share a runway
You are right in that is separate airports factually that shares two runways and not a single airport. They do not plan to invest much any time soon because the only way they could expand is getting rid of the Air Force base and some premium land including the golf course and it is not going to happen. Now they hope that Bulacan Airport is going to be the cure for all but even that the first runway only is projected to open in 2027. No one knows how and when they will have a new Highway to MNL. The current Express Way only really works during night time as everyone else is on it and is jam packed.
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