August 18, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — A prized investor on the Ninoy Aquino Worldwide Airport (NAIA) is probably going securing a brand new deal to resume lease within the gateway, conserving over 3,200 jobs protected and supporting the growth of native aviation.
The 25-year lease of Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP) is scheduled to run out this month, however the supplier of plane upkeep, restore and overhaul (MRO) is poised to signal a renewal.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon instructed The STAR that LTP nonetheless has points on the upper lease charged by the San Miguel-led New NAIA Infrastructure Corp.
NNIC is charging a month-to-month lease of P710 per sq. meter in NAIA. The concessionaire is permitted by an administrative order to gather larger charges from airways, locators and vacationers to fund the P170.6-billion rehabilitation of the airport.
If the speed is utilized to LTP, it must pay P160 million month-to-month to maintain its 226,000-sqm base in NAIA. This can be 11 instances larger than the P14 million a month in LTP’s expiring lease.
That is why Dizon, as quickly as he got here in as transport chief in February, centered on brokering a brand new deal for LTP, satisfied it will be a loss for NAIA if the locator walks away.
For one, LTP employs greater than 3,200 Filipinos in its base, and so they can ship MRO providers on Airbus A320s, A330s, A340s and A380s, in addition to Boeing 777s.
With LTP working in NAIA, it is ready to entice among the world’s greatest carriers to supply their MRO necessities in Manila, boosting town’s profile as an aviation hub.
Given this, Dizon made it clear to NNIC that it should discover a option to maintain LTP working in NAIA. Dizon mentioned one thing can be firmed up quickly between NNIC and LTP, though he declined to supply particulars.
“I believe Lufthansa is just too essential a locator for us to not discover a frequent answer to the state of affairs. Between San Miguel and Lufthansa, one thing can be labored out,” Dizon mentioned.
“We’ve got made it clear to San Miguel that Lufthansa should keep. It’s too essential a locator with hundreds of jobs depending on it. A significant element of the aviation trade [in the country] relies on it, so it’s too essential and we’ve got to discover a answer,” he added.
LTP extends MRO providers to the nation’s largest carriers Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airways, each of that are receiving extra Airbus plane for fleet growth.
Financially, LTP has to safe favorable charges for its NAIA lease if its Filipino proprietor MacroAsia Corp. needs to maintain profitability within the pandemic aftermath.
Regina Capital Growth Corp. head of gross sales Luis Limlingan mentioned the very best case state of affairs for LTP is to acquire both a hard and fast discounted price or a gradual improve in lease.
“A preferential price can be the optimum state of affairs for LTP if efficiently negotiated. Nonetheless, with out such an association, larger rental charges may considerably erode margins and weigh on profitability regardless of its sturdy efficiency within the first half,” Limlingan instructed The STAR.
“Provided that profitability stays on an upward trajectory, securing both a hard and fast preferential price or a gradual rental escalation can be important in mitigating the affect. A sudden improve in rental prices may materially pressure money flows and restrict future capability to distribute dividends,” he mentioned.
MacroAsia’s earnings from associates, together with LTP, elevated by 75 p.c to P611 million within the first half.
LTP, which MacroAsia owns a 49-percent share in, has booked a revenue of P1.1 billion as of June, and remitted P537.8 million to MacroAsia.
Nonetheless, LTP acknowledges the dangers coming its method, notably on larger charges, and it is able to go on among the prices to its purchasers if push involves shove.
