Friday, September 29, 2006 Clark airport, Cebu Pacific pact inked By Reynaldo G. Navales
CLARK ECOZONE -- The Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) has inked an agreement with Cebu Pacific on Thursday for the resumption of its services at Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as witness.
The President graced the signing ceremonies at the new Raffles Hotel at this ecozone, allowing the resurgence of Cebu Pacific services.
Cebu Pacific (CEB), using its brand new Airbus 319, will commence its daily Cebu-Clark service on October 12. The plane departs Cebu at 10:20 a.m. and arrives at DMIA at 11:40 am, while the return flight leaves at 12:10 p.m. and lands in Cebu at 1:30 p.m.
Also part of CEB’s initial services is the cooperation with CIAC “to further develop domestic and regional air travel market at DMIA.”
By mid 2007, additional flights to Cebu and daily service to Davao are being planned while in 2008 CEB is planning to have air services to Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan De Oro, Tacloban, Tagbilaran and Kalibo.
A regional service to Hong Kong is also expected by the first quarter of 2007 and this will be expanded to
Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, China and other Asian destinations. CEB has also committed to base two of its aircrafts at DMIA as the markets develop and mature in the Southeast Asian region.
The return of Cebu Pacific services are expected to boost economic ties between two key growth regions in Central Luzon, which is part of the Metro Luzon Super Region Beltway and the Visayas.
CIAC president and chief executive officer (CEO) Victor Jose Luciano said the new aviation agreements augur well with the National Government’s plan to fully develop DMIA as the country’s future premiere international airport.
Luciano said the services of Cebu Pacific will further strengthen business and tourism sectors in both islands.
Luciano also stressed that CEB has realized the potential of Clark as a gateway when it signified its intention to fly thru DMIA once again. CEB is also aggressively eyeing DMIA to be a hub of operations.
CEB president and CEO Lance Gokongwei earlier said “Cebu Pacific is all about making travel more affordable and convenient to more Filipinos. With the Clark-Cebu service, travelers now have the option of flying direct between the two regions without having to spend more time and more money traveling up and down the expressway to take flights or ferries from Manila to Cebu.”
“Very importantly, this will also give more Filipinos in Central Luzon access to our year-round low fares,” said Gokongwei.
CEB now services 20 domestic destinations with the inclusion of Clark. The lowest ‘Go’ fares between
Clark and Cebu would be at P568 one-way.
There are currently 43 international passenger flights, 70 international and domestic cargo flights, and 14 domestic passenger flights per week at DMIA.
With the daily Cebu-Clark flights, the number of domestic passenger flight frequencies will go up to 21 flights per week. As of now, CIAC is trying to expand its passenger capacity from 500,000 a year to around one million passengers a year in 2008 by improving the existing terminal including its security measures through the procurement of new X-ray machines, a Terminal Approach Radar and additional equipments.
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