Soon, Getting to NAIA Terminal 3 Could Be as Simple as Taking the Subway

(SPOT.ph) Anyone who's ever flown out of Manila knows that getting to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) can be a trip in itself. You leave hours early, sometimes pay the Skyway toll just to make the ride a little less stressful. Eventually, though, Metro Manila will have something plenty of other cities in the world already have: a train that goes straight to the airport.

Construction of the Metro Manila Subway’s NAIA Terminal 3 Station kicked off on September 16 with the official groundbreaking in Pasay City. Once finished, the station will form part of the 33-kilometer Metro Manila Subway, which will have 17 stations running through Valenzuela, Quezon City, Pasig, Taguig, Pasay, and Parañaque.

More importantly for travelers, the subway will take you right to the airport.

The station is being built in Terminal 3’s parking area in front of the terminal building, according to earlier plans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The layout also shows a pedestrian connection toward Terminal 3, so you should be able to walk to the terminal after getting off the train.

There is one important catch, though: the train only goes directly to Terminal 3.

If you’re flying out of Terminal 1 or 2, you’ll still need to transfer once you get there. At least under NAIA’s current setup, that doesn’t necessarily mean booking another taxi or Grab. Airport operator New NAIA Infra Corporation runs 24/7 free inter-terminal shuttle buses connecting Terminals 1, 2, and 3 throughout the day.

Also read: This New P2P Bus Takes You From PITX to Clark Airport and Back

The NAIA station is only one stop on a much bigger line. Other planned stations of the Metro Manila Subway include Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, Katipunan (Camp Aguinaldo), Ortigas Avenue, Shaw Boulevard, Kalayaan Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Lawton East, Senate-DepEd, and FTI. The main line continues toward Bicutan, with a spur branching toward NAIA Terminal 3.

You won’t necessarily have to live near one of those stations to make the airport connection useful. The subway is planned to connect with LRT-1, MRT-3, and MRT-7 through North Avenue; with LRT-2 at Anonas; and with the future MRT-4 at Ortigas. It will also connect with the North-South Commuter Railway at Senate, FTI, and Bicutan.

Once the entire line is running, the government estimates that traveling from Valenzuela to NAIA could take around 40 minutes, compared with roughly 90 minutes today.

It will still be a while before any of this becomes part of an actual airport commute. The subway is now about 60% complete, with a demonstration run targeted for 2028. That initial run will only cover the section from Valenzuela to Quirino Highway, so don’t expect to be rolling up to Terminal 3 by train just yet.

The entire railway is currently targeted to become fully operational in 2031.

Also read: Construction Kicks Off for Kalayaan and BGC Stations on the Metro Manila Subway