Emirates eyes 1-M passengers from Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, sees the volume of passengers from the Philippines hitting at least one million this year as it is scheduled to launch its direct flights to Dubai from the Clark International Airport in Pampanga next month.

Emirates Phillippines country manager Gigie Baroa said in an interview with The STAR that the airline is looking at ferrying at least one million passengers via its three daily operations between Dubai and Manila via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“We are targeting more than half a million passengers for Dubai to Manila route alone and that would be one way. If you double that, it would be about one million,” Baroa stressed.

Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed Emirates flew 438,843 passengers from January to June this year consisting of 217,592 inbound passengers and 221,251 outbound passengers.

She said the airline would start its daily non-stop flights from Clark to Dubai on Oct. 1 to cater to Filipinos and tourists whose destination is Northern Luzon making it the only international full service carrier operating westbound from Clark International Airport.

Clark in Pampanga is 80 kilometers to the north of Manila and serves as a catchment area of 17 million people. About 30 percent of the total number of Filipinos working overseas originate from Central and northern Luzon.

“Filipinos now have the freedom to choose between Clark and NAIA, which demonstrates our commitment to our customers. And with this new route, we are reaching more Filipinos who live in Northern Luzon, bringing them and their loved ones closer than ever,” she added.

Emirates has been operating flights to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, since 1990 and, due to the demand, has continued to increase its flight frequency on the route to its current triple daily, non-stop service.