DMIA is en route to where the country would want to go: progress and prosperity. This airport is slowly ascending with major stakeholders on board.
What is fueling its soar? The many flights - passenger and cargo - that have been mounted by various airlines through the efforts of Clark authorities in SCAD, CIAC and CDC. Of course, there are "additives" to the fuel like the support of Malacañang Palace, the national and local leaderships, the local travel agents, the airline executives and many more.
For example, Asiana Airlines. With its success in its Incheon-Clark-Incheon midnight flights, the Seoul-based carrier had added last July 22 three daytime flights to DMIA. Asiana now has midday flights every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday to and from Incheon.
What makes this new schedule so significant and so convenient is that passengers with onward connections to either JFK Airport in New York and Tom Bradley International Airport in Los Angeles no longer had to wait for eight hours in Seoul for their connecting flights to these major cities.
With the midday flights, a passenger bound for JFK for example will now only have to wait for two hours! Just enough time to stretch legs, have a sip of coffee, check emails, refresh a bit, and out he/she goes to the flight that would take him/her to the final destination.
These flights do not only bring good news that DMIA is indeed ready for the world as a premier gateway to the country. The new schedule of Asiana also brings so much convenience especially to Balikbayans.
The new flights are also inexpensive with introductory promotional rates. For example, a round trip DMIA-JFK airfare for a particular period could only cost around US$1,270. If a passenger is taking a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to LAX in the same month, the airfare could be about US$1,220. An onward flight to New York could cost another US$500 more or less. There's also the hassle of transferring to another terminal building in the busy LAX where baggage would have to be carried by the passenger. Not to mention the new round of security checks at the gates Asiana, with its new Clark Regional Manager Mr. Jin Hak Jung, is studying the possibility of having reasonable promo rates. Mr. Jung, a welcome figure in the travel industry, replaces Sang Ju Kim who did fairly well in the last four years.
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Chief pilot in DMIA's soar, of course, will have to be no other than CIAC President and CEO Chichos Luciano.
Without fear of contradiction, I can boldly say again and again that it has always been this former airline executive who almost single handedly brought in the much-needed flights to DMIA.
Former CDC president Emmanuel Angeles made no mistake in tapping Luciano - a Cabalen -- as his right hand man in 2001. Part of his main tasks then as CDC's executive vice president was to bring life to Clark's airport. And DMIA did come alive since then.
From a birdless airport, DMIA now has local flights by Cebu Pacific, Seair, Asian Spirit and many more. Asiana Airlines lead the pack in regional and international flights along with Air Asia, Tiger Airways, United Parcel Service and others. Very soon, flights to Bankok, Thailand and Bahrain will also be mounted by TransGlobal and Spirit of Manila, respectively.
Assisting Luciano in the cockpit of flight for national interest are of course his fellow executives in Clark like new CDC president Benny Ricafort, CIAC officials like EVP Alex Cauguiran, VP Ben Manga. Not to be left out of course is SCADC Chair Edgardo Pamintuan who is a big help in steering directions toward this flight to progress.
The local travel agents are doing very well in serving as flight crew. Mrs. Carmen Mactavish, for one, has always kept faith in what Luciano and the rest of Clark officials are doing towards promoting DMIA and the Freeport.
Sure there had been incurred losses by her company in some cancelled charter flights by some carriers like the Hong Kong Airlines and Transglobal but the owner of Angeles International Travel Center do not mind infusing more investments.
She remains very optimistic about the promises of DMIA. She cited in particular the newly approved entitlements for Clark in the recent air talks with Hong Kong and Thailand officials. She notes that DMIA and CIAC officials scored very well in securing more flights for Clark in the future.
