The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has secured its first global customer-experience accreditation from Airports Council International (ACI), marking a significant milestone in its ongoing modernization under New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC).
NAIA achieved Level 1 Airport Customer Experience Accreditation, the first time the country’s main gateway has been recognized by ACI for aligning with international standards in managing and elevating the passenger experience.
The accreditation is granted under ACI’s Airport Customer Experience Accreditation program — the only global framework that evaluates how airports understand, measure, and improve the end-to-end passenger journey.
Between July and September 2025, ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey collected real-time feedback from 700 arriving and departing passengers across all terminals. NAIA met 100 percent of ACI’s sampling and data integrity requirements, allowing its results to be included in ACI’s global benchmarking system.
This recognition comes one year after NNIC, a consortium led by San Miguel Corporation and Incheon International Airport Corp., assumed operations of NAIA under a public-private partnership awarded in September 2024. NAIA serves around 50 million passengers annually, making it one of the region’s busiest hubs.
The accreditation underscores the early impact of NNIC’s dual strategy focused on service excellence and physical upgrades. NAIA’s passenger satisfaction score reached 4.06 out of 5 in the latest ASQ survey — exceeding the 4.0 performance commitment under the concession agreement.
“Earning the ACI accreditation this early says a lot about the people working every day to improve NAIA,” said NNIC president Ramon S. Ang. “We still have a lot to do, but because of their commitment, we are making steady progress in upgrading the airport’s systems and strengthening the service culture that travelers experience.”
Under NNIC, NAIA has seen measurable improvements in staff courtesy, check-in processes, and terminal facilities, with scores rising quarter-on-quarter. To enhance the passenger journey, NNIC recently opened a 6,000-square-meter Mezzanine Food Hall at Terminal 3, with more food halls and dining options scheduled for Terminals 1 and 2 by early 2026.
Physical upgrades are likewise advancing, including terminal rehabilitation and expansion, modernized power systems, improved baggage handling, enhanced digital information systems, and the rollout of the Collins biometric passenger processing system.
Beyond operational improvements, NNIC has remitted more than ₱57 billion to the national government in its first year — the highest revenue share recorded for a Philippine airport concession — highlighting the tangible benefits of the PPP for both the government and the traveling public.