Clark Int’l Airport expansion set to start next month

MANILA, Philippines - The expansion of the capacity of the Clark International Airport in Pampanga through the construction of a new passenger terminal is expected to start next month to serve as an alternative to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila.

Victor Jose Luciano, president of the Clark International Airport Corp., said in an interview with reporters that the second phase of the expansion of the existing terminal of the Clark International Airport is finally scheduled to start next month. “We will start the expansion next month,” Luciano said.

The Aquino administration is spending P360 million to expand the airport’s existing passenger terminal to accommodate about four million passengers from the current capacity of 2.5 million.

However, Luciano submitted a proposal to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) seeking to put up a P12 billion terminal that could accommodate at least 10 million to 12 million passengers per year similar to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.

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

In February last year, CIAC signed a P1 billion loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines to fund the construction of the second phase of the expansion project of the gateway’s existing terminal.

Luciano pointed out that the company intends to borrow from the domestic market to be able to fund the expansion project. The application is now pending with the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

President Aquino is set to announce whether the administration would adopt a single or twin-airport system through the joint development of the NAIA and Clark international airports.

The Clark International Airport expects to service at least two million tourists this year as more foreign and domestic visitors use the gateway in Pampanga to avoid the congested NAIA.

Last year, the volume of passengers using the gateway surged 71 percent to 1.3 million passengers from 767,000 in 2011 as budget airlines operating marketed the gateway in Pampanga serving as an alternative to NAIA through offer cheaper fares.

He explained that Executive Orders 28 and 29 issued by President Aquino boosted the attraction of Clark as alternate airport to foreign and local carriers alike as airlines were encouraged to fly outside Metro Manila as alternate to NAIA.

Furthermore, he also cited the decision of Malacañang to place Clark International Airport under the direct supervision of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in December 2011 under EO 64.

Clark was a dormant airport from its inception in 1995 up to 2002 when UPS chose Clark as its intra-Asia hub. Commercial passenger operations started in the last quarter of 2003 with the introduction of international passenger charter flights of Asiana Airlines of Korea to Clark.