Despite 11 years of heavy involvement in the local aviation industry, India-based conglomerate GMR Group remains eager to invest more in the domestic infrastructure sector and transform Philippine transportation.
GMR Chairman Srinivas Bommidala affirmed this when he met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the 2023 Asian Summit in Singapore.
He shared the group's willingness to invest in the country's projects, continuing to lend its expertise to make world-class transport structures and services.
GMR Group, a group that flaunts an astounding global energy and transportation infrastructure portfolio, has earned a strong record in the country due to its existing contributions as a renowned airport operator.
Founded in 1978 by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, GMR Group covers GMR Infrastructure, GMR Energy, GMR Airports, and GMR Enterprises.
In India, GMR operates Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad; and Goa Manohar International Airport.
In the Philippines, they are most known as prominent developers of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), and Clark International Airport (CRK). In 2014, GMR Infrastructure Limited joined forces with Filipino firm Megawide Construction Corporation, forming the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), to operate and maintain the MCIA, bidding P17.5 billion.
This 25-year public-private partnership (PPP) concession was said to be the “first large-scale PPP initiative” of the Philippine government at that time, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
It inaugurated the MCIA International Terminal 2 in 2018, which was hailed for its elegant architecture (designed by the Integrated Design Associates Ltd. [IDA]) by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
It also finished rehabilitating Terminal 1 for domestic flights in 2019.
GMCAC tapped the ADB to finance the construction of T2 and renovation of T1 with a $75 million loan.
Under the helm of the consortium, the airport was recognized as the Asia Pacific Small and Medium Airport of the Year in 2016 and 2018 respectively by the Center of Asia Pacific for Aviation (CAPA). According to CAPA, international traffic rose consistently from 2015 to 2018, reaching 10 million passengers in 2017. Prior to privatization, MCIA saw merely 1.7 million international visitors.
GMR Infrastucture Ltd remains as a technical services provider to GMCAC for the Cebu airport until the end of 2026 after it transferred control of MCIA to Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc in 2022.
Seeing the outcomes of the Visayan terminal, GMR and Megawide teamed up again and won the bid to build a new terminal building for CRK in 2017, with the lowest bid at ₱9.36 billion.
The project involved the design, construction, testing, and commissioning of the new terminal, which was estimated to accommodate eight million passengers per year.
Upon completion in late 2020, GMCAC handed over the control of the terminal in 2021 to the airport's primary operator Luzon International Premier Airport Development (LIPAD) Corp. in partnership with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
Since CRK Terminal 2 opened to the public in 2022, overall passenger traffic saw nearly 300 percent surge compared to 2021, according to the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC).
Despite incurring losses during the pandemic in 2020, GMCAC was able to regain passenger volume with airport traffic growth expected to continue.
Equipped with experience operating MCIA and building for CRK, GMR has now set its eyes on the PPP opportunity offered by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the country's largest airport.
GMR is included in one of four groups that submitted bids last December 2023 for the ₱170.6 billion operation and maintenance project for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), through the GMR Airports Consortium comprising GMR Airports International B.V., Cavitex Holdings Inc., and House of Investments.
No decision has yet been made on the winner of the bid, given GMR's track record, it's leadership may take the often maligned Manila airport to brand new heights.