Jin Air, 3 other airlines to start Clark flights

CLARK FREEPORT – Jin Air, the sixth passenger commercial airline invited by the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), will start its daily operations between Clark and Seoul on October 31, 2010.

CIAC president Victor Jose Luciano said South Korea’s Jin Air, a subsidiary of Korean Airways, is a budget airline and is expected to increase passenger traffic at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), which is now nearing the annual 700,000 mark.

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Luciano is the only CIAC top executive who successfully invited foreign and local airlines to launch international flights out of the Clark airport. Luciano is behind the start of the Asiana flights between Clark and Incheon.

“We are expecting more passengers with the entry of Jin Air which is a budget airline. Now Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) can go home as often as they want because of the cheap fares,” according to Luciano.

Aside From Jin Air, Luciano also announced the deal with South Korea’s Air Busan that will fly between Clark and Busan; Middle Eastern carrier RAK Airways that will fly between Clark and the United Arab Emirates via India; and Helenik of Greece.

The airlines will be using Boeing 757-200s in their operations, according to Luciano.

Luciano said that the various foreign and local carriers operating at DMIA will be able to use the expanded DMIA Terminal 1, which can now accommodate 2.7 million passengers annually.

CIAC infused P338 million for the expansion of the existing DMIA Terminal 1. The new two-storey DMIA Terminal 1 have two aero bridges, flight information display, closed-circuit television cameras, background music, public address system, x-ray machines, escalators and elevators.

The expansion also paved the way for the installation of additional immigration counters, airlines offices, concessionaire’s area, and five airline ticketing offices, baggage conveyors and among others.

Other carriers at the DMIA include Tiger Airways of Singapore that flies Clark-Singapore, Air Asia of Malaysia via Clark-Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Asiana Airlines via Clark-Incheon in South Korea with connecting flights to the US, China and Japan, Cebu Pacific Air via Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Macau while South East Asian Airlines (Seair) via Clark-Caticlan at the world famous Boracay Beach Island Resort.

Other carriers include Spirit of Manila Airlines via Clark-Taiwan.