Luciano: CIA passengers may reach 1.5M this year

CLARK FREEPORT -- Clark International Corporation (Ciac) president Victor Jose I. Luciano expressed optimism that the number of passengers passing through the airport may reach 1.5 million this year.

This developed after the huge increase in the volume of local and international passengers, Luciano said.

In just eight months, CIA has posted 806,574 passengers or a 63% increase from the 725,023 passengers recorded in 2011.

"It was a phenomenal growth," Luciano said, noting that the 806,574 passenger volume for the first eight months of this year have already surpassed the overall passenger volume in 2011.

"This only manifests that Clark International Airport is showing its potential to become the next premier gateway of the country, and we at CIAC will continue to provide a better air travel transport to the travelling public particularly the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) mostly coming from the Northern Luzon area," said Luciano.

Luciano also revealed that the airport recorded an increase of passenger volume in both international and domestic at 109 percent or 117,488 covering only the month of August this year compared to the 56,328 passengers of the same month in 2011.

In the next two months, the Clark Airport will receive its 5 millionth passenger since operating in November 2003. In 2007, Clark Airport had its 1 millionth passenger via Asiana Airlines flight that arrived from Incheon in South Korea.

The Clark International Airport is catering 316 aircraft movements a week as a result of the new flights in both international and domestic routes.

Luciano attributed the passenger growth due to the increase of international and domestic flights by low cost and full service carriers such as Air Asia Philippines, Airphil Express, South East Asian Airlines (Seair) in partnership with the Singapore based Tiger Airways and Dragonair a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific.

Luciano cited that Air Asia Philippines alone will carry around 5 million passengers within the next five to seven years with more destinations in the coming future.

At present, CIAC is preparing the expansion of the existing Passenger Terminal Phase II project worth P360 million to accommodate the expected influx of passengers at the airport.

Luciano had proposed to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) another plan to set up a separate Budget Terminal worth P12 billion similar to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. The proposed Budget Terminal can accommodate at least 10 to 12 million passengers annually.

The DOTC had earlier allocated a P100 million for the feasibility study of the entire Clark Civil Aviation Complex in preparation for its transformation as the next Premier International Gateway.

Other carriers operating at the airport are Cebu Pacific, Air Asia Berhad and Jin Air.