P100M set for airport feasibility study
-A A +AThursday, July 12, 2012
CLARK FREEPORT – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has set aside P100 million for a feasibility study on the Clark International Airport (CIA).
Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) president and CEO Victor Jose Luciano said the move of the DOTC will make Clark International Airport as the “main international airport of the country right after the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).”
“The Aquino government is serious in making Clark International Airport as the main gateway of the country,” Luciano said.
He said that “the government is looking at developing a long-term program such as the development of a new passenger terminal to accommodate huge numbers of passengers, as well as aircrafts for budget carriers and legacy carriers.”
“The government is determined to make Clark the main international airport that will cater to the rising number of passengers,” Luciano said.
He said CIA is the only airport in the country that has six budget carriers operating 24 hours a day.
Among them are Air Asia Philippines, Air Asia Malaysia, Seair, Cebu Pacific, Jin Air, and Airphil Express.
He said that the feasibility study is different from the P12-billion Budget Terminal being proposed earlier to the DOTC by the CIAC management.
CIAC is also in the process of evaluating the bidding of the P360-million Phase II expansion of the existing passenger terminal.
The current terminal has a capacity of 2 million passengers annually that is not enough to accommodate the influx of passengers using the CIA.
Budget carriers such as Air Asia Philippines and Airphil Express had stated earlier this year additional international and domestic flights at the airport that resulted to the growth of passenger volume.
CIAC had recorded a 54-percent growth in passenger volume in the second half of this year due to increased flights of the budget carriers, as well as full service airlines. Dragon Air, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, started on May 29 its daily Clark-Kong flights at the Clark Airport. Dragon Air is a full-service airline serving 130 destinations worldwide.
Passenger traffic at Clark International Airport is at 300 aircraft movements weekly. Asian Airline also operates at Clark Airport.
Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on July 12, 2012.
Local news
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