1945-2017: Multiple false-starts A 1945 plan to build a central national airport on
reclaimed land in Manila Bay in northeastern Pasay did not materialise. In 1972,
The Manila Times reported that a new airport in Bulacan will be built to replace the Manila's International Airport but even that did not materialise as soon after
martial law under Ferdinand Marcos was imposed and the new airport plans were eventually cancelled. By early 1980s, Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport) had become congested and the 2012 plan for secondary airport in Manila proposed by SMC-owned
Philippine Airlines was also later shelved. In May 2011, the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)'s study on air transport needs within the
Greater Manila Area, made a submission to the Philippine government that a new airport was "an urgent need" given that the capacity at the existing NAIA was "already almost saturated." In 2015, JICA recommended the construction of
a new airport near
Sangley Point in
Cavite City to the south of Manila Bay. In 2013, a competing unsolicited proposal by SMC to build a new airport to the north of Manila Bay was rejected by the government, a decision later reversed by the administration of the President Duterte in 2016 who favored multiple airports for the Greater Manila Area.
2016-20: Bulacan airport plan approved Consequently, 2017 SMC proposal to build a new airport north of Manila Bay under
BOT scheme, was approved in 2018 by the government, and underwent a
Swiss challenge where other prospective companies competed against the original project proponent SMC. On 18 September 2019, SMC was awarded the Bulacan airport deal,
2020-2028: Phase-1 construction thumb|Dredging by Boskalis</a> in November 2022. -
Bambang area, c. March 2024. In 2019, SMC contracted three international firms,
Groupe ADP Ingénierie, Meinhardt Group and
Jacobs Engineering Group (the same builders behind
Changi Airport,
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and
Charles de Gaulle Airport) for the design ad construction. On 14 October 2020, the groundbreaking of the new airport began, and the construction of the phase-1 began on 18 March 2022 which includes the two runways and the terminal buildings of the new international airport.
Royal Boskalis, Dutch company contracted for the dredging of site for the new airport, commenced the preparatory work in 2021 and completed the land development in 2024.
Environmental impact mitigation measures Since 2019, several groups had been raising concerns about the environmental impact of the project, such as the increased risk of flooding and impact on the adjacent
mangrove forests. SMC responded with a mitigation plan, undertook award-winning a site which is s
stopover for
wader bird migration along
East Asian–Australasian Flyway and a
natural flood protection sink-area. ==Present status==