Manila International Airport

[Solblanc]

I don’t think Terminal 1 should be used if it anything other than its design capacity. It is so full. It’s a little sad to see that they had to put seating in the hallways connecting the two satellites. The one Starbucks can’t accommodate the very long lines. Gates are so very cramped. And while PAL has their Mabuhay lounge, other airlines have to share the tiny lounges. The marhaba lounge is possibly the worst airport lounge I’ve been to. The contract lounges are all over capacity as well.

Maybe T1 can handle 12.5 LCC passengers. It’s no longer comfortable for FSC passengers.

[ewh1]

Yeah, those numbers can’t reflect current capacity, so this is creative storytelling at its best. At least say “We’re working towards” and it will be more accurate.

They are constructing bus gates with a pre-departure lounge at the ground floor satellites so hopefully it eases up that terminal a bit. Along with the new food hall that looks to be on the 4th floor were the airline offices presumably used to be, I hope the terminal will be at least, decent to hang around in.

It’s mind boggling though there was zero foresight into making a terminal that could easily be expanded. Imagine if T1 was more like TPE’s Terminal 1, which was built around the same time but longitudinal, some of these issues maybe wouldn’t have been so bad and expansions could’ve been better managed.