GMA to inaugurate Clark airport’s expanded terminal

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga —  President Arroyo will open today the P112.9-million expanded area of the passenger terminal of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), paving the way for the airport to accommodate some two million passengers per year.    

The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) said the President is also slated to inspect newly-installed facilities, including a P23-million baggage conveyor and check-in conveyor with carousel, a P10.2-million X-ray machine, a P14-million power generator equipment, a P4.9-million closed circuit television, and a P4.9-million flight information display system.       

The civil renovation work for the expanded terminal cost P55.9 million, CIAC said.

“The expanded passenger terminal can now accommodate two million passengers annually, higher than its former 500,000 a year capacity,” the CIAC said, noting that already, the terminal processed some 533,000 passengers who arrived from international and domestic flights here last year.     

CIAC said the DMIA “has been experiencing unprecedented growth in recent years with at least 60 commercial flights a week by international airlines Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Asiana, Hong Kong Express and China Southernand, as well as domestic carriers Seair, Cebu Pacific and Asian Spirit”.   

The terminal now has a floor area of 6,279 square meters covering a pre-departure, check-in lobby, baggage claim area and the arrival area.   

The expanded terminal also features an additional Immigration counter, five new airline offices, a concessionaire’s area and five airline ticketing offices.

CIAC also said the passenger terminal upgrading also included new restrooms and and a coffee shop at the arrival  and pre-departure area.    

The expansion has provided 914 square meters more to the previous 5,365 square-meter space, CIAC said, adding that that this expansion “translates to increased capacity”.      

At the same time, CIAC president Victor Jose Luciano said his firm ‘’ will soon embark on the development of the Terminal 2 project which is expected to commence by the middle of this year.’’   

‘’The Terminal 2 project will increase terminal capacity to seven to eight million passengers  annually,’’ he noted.     

Luciano also said the President will also witness the signing of two agreements between  CIAC and Kuwait Gulf and Link (KGL) and SIA Engineering Company (SIA EC) before a walking tour of the expanded terminal.      

Luciano said DMIA is ‘’increasing its capacity to keep up with the continuing growth in passenger volume,’’ as he noted that ‘’most OFWs from nearby Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, Macau and Hong Kong now prefer the DMIA because of the budget airlines that has catapulted the airline  industry in Central Luzon.’’