CLARKFIELD, Philippines, 29 October 2007 — With two 3.2-km parallel runways located in at least 2,500-hectare area, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) could be on its way to becoming the Philippines’ future premier gateway in the next decade.
No less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had envisioned the development of the DMIA into an international services hub and an international passenger airport as part of the grand plan to develop a megalogistics and services hub in the Subic-Clark corridor.
Subic is the site of the deep-sea port while Clark is the site of an international airport. Both growth centers will be interconnected by the 91-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway which is expected to be finished by next year at a cost of P21 billion.
The Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) expected to increase passenger capacity in DMIA from 500,000 per year to at least 2 million once the expansion of the existing terminal is finished by January next year.
Last year, the airport registered over 480,000 domestic and international passengers and is expected to service over half a million passengers this year.
CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano said DMIA is increasing its capacity in a bid to service the continued growth in passenger volume in the airport. The DMIA is averaging at least 42,000 passengers a month for this year.
Luciano, who had played a key role in the entry of international flights in DMIA, expressed optimism that more passengers will be accommodated once the expansion of the terminal is finished.
More check-in counters will be added inside the terminal to speed up processing of outbound and inbound passengers. Most of the OFWs in nearby Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, Macau and Hong Kong are passing through DMIA because of the presence of budget airlines.
“Our Filipino workers heading overseas no longer have to travel all the way to Manila to catch their flights because DMIA is right at the door step,” Luciano said. “Cheap fares also allow our beloved OFWs to go home as often as they want,” he added.
Talks are in the pipeline for the entry of Saudi Arabia’a Tair Airways which will fly from Riyadh to Clark and back to Jeddah before heading to Riyadh. The Emirates which ordered the A380s could also tapped the OFWs and fly them directly to DMIA. “Now air travel is available to everybody,” said Luciano, urging residents of Central and North Luzon to travel via DMIA. “There is no heavy traffic, no heat. It is more convenient and a lot cheaper.”
Citing its contribution to the regional aviation industry, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) recently recognized DMIA as “Low Cost Airport of the Year 2006.” Luciano received the plaque of recognition from CAPA executive chairman Peter Harbison during the Aviation Outlook Summit in Singapore last year.
DMIA’s annual volume of traffic is growing tremendously since it started operations. In 2004, DMIA posted 230 international flights with 49,546 passengers. The following year, it recorded 1,188 flights with 224,497 passengers, and 2,065 international flights with 470,867 passengers a year after.
For its domestic flights, DMIA recorded 432 domestic flights with 9,442 passengers in 2004, and 455 flights with 7,816 passengers and 443 flights with 17,889 passengers, in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Terminal fee collections was also upped 126 percent from P35,863,650 million in 2005 to P81,097,750 million in 2006. In 2004, collection reached a mere P8,830,789 million.
Combined international and domestic cargo tonnage also increased 15 percent from 112,266 tons in 2005 to 128,747 tons in 2006. In 2004, only 108,162 tons was recorded.
A total of 126 flights are now being recorded each week. There are currently 45 international flights, 21 domestic, and 60 international and domestic cargo flights at DMIA. Among those airliners operating in DMIA include Asiana Airlines of South Korea, Tiger Airways of Singapore, Air Asia of Malaysia, SEAir which services the route Clark-Caticlan and Cebu Pacific.
Cebu Pacific 3rd hub, PAL entry Cebu Pacific (CebPac) is also planning to make DMIA as its third hub after Cebu and Manila and from Clark it is expected to fly to international destinations such as Singapore, Macau, Bangkok, Taiwan and Korea. At present, CebPac flies three flights a week to DMIA from Cebu.
The Philippine government’s air panel however have to deal for more seat entitlements in a bid to allow CebPac to have direct flights to and from these countries.
Existing bilateral air policies which are considered restrictive are affecting the full development of regional airports such as DMIA because most of the seat entitlements had been gobbled up by major players such as Philippine Air Lines.
PAL on the other hand is expected to ink a deal with CIAC by next year on the lease of a 50-hectare area in Clark’s civil aviation complex. PAL wanted to locate their maintenance, repair and overhaul in Pampanga.
Luciano said CIAC is currently undergoing expansion of DMIA’s terminal and will proceed with the development of the legacy terminal. “We are flexible enough and we will take into consideration the entry of large commercial passenger aircraft such as the A380.”
Just recently, DMIA welcomed Airbus A380, a proof that it is capable of handling the new generation of large aircraft.
DMIA also had accommodated several large aircraft such as the US’ C-17 “Starlifter” and the Russian-made Antonov “Condor” 124.
“This is important to CIAC and DMIA because it prepositioned the Clark airport to be a viable alternative airport and eventually the future premier gateway of the Philippines,” Luciano said on the recent visit of Airbus A380.
DMIA is expected to play an important role in the development of a megalogistics hub and services as envisioned by President Gloria M. Arroyo.
