CLARK FREEPORT -- President and Chief Executive Officer Victor Jose I. Luciano of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) announced that the construction of the airport terminal expansion will start on May 15.
The government decided to set construction works at the passenger terminal two days after the mid-term polls to avoid the election ban.
According to Luciano, the project is expected to be completed by September, in time for the launching of new flights to Dubai by Emirates Airlines.
The existing terminal can only accommodate two million passengers annually. Luciano said the new passenger terminal expansion will boost its capacity to four to five million passengers yearly.
Luciano said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) had finally approved the budget for the expansion of Clark Terminal 1.
With the operations of low-cost carriers, CIAC expects passenger volume at the airport to reach two to five million this year, after the number hit 408,895 in the first quarter alone.
"We expect this to further increase as we are anticipating the start of the Emirates non-stop daily flights between Dubai and Clark and vice versa on October 1," Luciano said.
Carriers with international and local flight in Clark are Air Asia Berhad of Malaysia, Air Asia Philippines, PAL Express, Seair-Tiger Airways, Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific), Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, and Dragonair.
Clark airport, the country’s fastest-growing international airport, posted 62 percent increase in international and local passengers during the first quarter this year.
Last year, the number of passengers using the terminal rose by 71 percent to 1.3 million.