International airport

An international airport is an airport that offers customs and immigration facilities for passengers travelling between countries. International airports are typically larger than domestic airports and often feature longer runways and facilities to accommodate the heavier aircraft commonly used for international and intercontinental travel. International airports often also host domestic flights. Some, such as Frankfurt Airport in Germany are very large; others such as Fa'a'ā International Airport in Tahiti, are quite small.

Buildings, operations and management have become increasingly sophisticated since the mid 20th century, when international airports began to provide infrastructure for international civilian flights. Detailed technical standards have been developed to ensure safety and common coding systems implemented to provide global consistency. The physical structures that serve millions of individual passengers and flights are among the most complex and interconnected in the world. By the second decade of the 21st century, there were over 1,200 international airports and almost two billion international passengers along with 50 million metric tonnes of cargo were passing through them annually.

Manila

Manila (ⁱ/məˈnɪl.ə/) is the capital city of the Philippines. It is the home to extensive commerce and seats the executive and judicial branches of the Filipino government. It also contains vast amount of significant architectural and cultural landmarks in the country. Manila is one of the sixteen cities that makes up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines. In 2012, Globalization and World Cities Research Network listed Manila as a global city.

Manila is on the eastern shore of Manila Bay. According to the 2010 census, Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines with a population of 1,652,171. Manila is the most densely populated city in the world with 42,857 people per square kilometer.

Manila has six representative districts for the lower house of the Philippine Congress. Furthermore, the city is composed of 16 districts, namely: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo.

Benigno Aquino, Jr.

Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. (November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was the husband of Philippine President Corazon Aquino and served as a Senator from 1967 until 1972 and as a governor of Tarlac. Aquino, together with Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga, formed the leadership of the opposition to the government of President Ferdinand Marcos. Shortly after the imposition of martial law, he was arrested in 1972 along with other dissidents and incarcerated for seven years. In 1980 Aquino was permitted to travel to the United States for medical treatment following a heart attack. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport in 1983 upon returning from his self-imposed exile. His death catapulted his widow, Corazon, into the political limelight, and prompted her to run for president as member of the UNIDO party in the 1986 snap elections.

Among other public structures, Manila International Airport has since been renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honour, and the anniversary of his death is a national holiday.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Filipino: Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino) or NAIA /ˈnaɪ.ə/, also known as Manila International Airport (IATA: MNL, ICAO: RPLL), is the airport serving Manila and its surrounding metropolitan area. Located along the border between the cities of Pasay and Parañaque, about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of Manila proper and southwest of Makati, NAIA is the main international gateway for travelers to the Philippines and serves as a hub for AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia Zest, Cebgo, Cebu Pacific, PAL Express, and Philippine Airlines. It is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), a branch of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Officially, NAIA is the only airport serving the Manila area. However, in practice, both NAIA and Clark International Airport, located in the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga serve the Manila area, with Clark catering mostly to low-cost carriers because of its lower landing fees compared to those charged at NAIA. In the recent past there have been calls for Clark to replace NAIA eventually as the primary airport of the Philippines. The airport is named after the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated at the airport in 1983. In 2015, all terminals at NAIA handled a record breaking annual passenger traffic of 36,681,601, domestic passengers totaled 19,513,514 compared to international travelers, totaling 17,168,087.

Philippines

Coordinates: 13°N 122°E / 13°N 122°E / 13; 122

The Philippines (ⁱ/ˈfɪlᵻpiːnz/; Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,500 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City; both are part of Metro Manila.

To the north of the Philippines across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan; Vietnam sits west across the South China Sea; southwest lies Malaysia in the island of Borneo across the Sulu Sea, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia; while to the east it is bounded by the Philippine Sea and the island-nation of Palau. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons, but also endows it with abundant natural resources and some of the world's greatest biodiversity. At approximately 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi), the Philippines is the 72nd-largest country in the world.